Touch
by So Much For That
Summary: When someone can control you just by speaking, how do you win? Xavier's faces a new threat, many times greater than anyone can imagine. Ant, an empath that needs constant contact, might hold the key to beating the new mutant. But can she stand by herself?
1. Insane

First chapter of my first story. Let's see how it goes over.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my own characters. And even then, they're not much to lay claim on. So I don't own squat

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As Logan walked out to the garage he allowed himself a small smile, away from the prying eyes at the school. It had been nearly five years since Jean had risen and died again, and Logan did all that he could to forget her, keeping himself busy helping Orora with the upkeep of the school. 

But even a teacher as well-liked as Mr. Logan needed a break.

He ran a hand through his unruly hair and stepped into the cool holding area. Since Scott had been killed, Logan had taken over his collection of bikes and cars – to no ones objection, save a few hotshot students who had their eye on a motorcycle. The man grabbed one of the machines and revved the engine, the noise causing the garage door to open.

He was off! Speeding out the door and down the long lane that led to the back road the school was located near. Eyes narrowed in anticipation, he watched the iron gate open as automatically as the door. Suddenly, his over-sensitive nose caught a scent and his eyes were narrowed for a very different reason.

Stopping just outside the iron gate of Xavier's, a light breeze pushing through the summer morning, Logan glanced to the side of the entrance, his eyes narrowing further. He could smell mutant a mile away, and a stranger from two.

Another one?

Leaning against the column that bore the name of the school, hunched down on the ground, skinny arms curled around legs that were drawn far too close to the chest to be comfortable, huddled a slight girl.

Logan growled under his breath. Why couldn't it be someone else to find the abandoned ones? Somehow it always ended up being him – damn his nose.

Kicking the stand down he got off the motorcycle, his jeans and boots shuffling in the mid-morning light. She had probably been there all night, judging from the damp clothes. He ran his hand through his hair again, standing off to the side of the girl. She had her bag leaning on her and her dirty brown hair was up in a frizzy ponytail. Logan reached out a toe and nudged the girl's bag, shaking her a little.

"Hey kid." He said, his voice almost a growl. "Kid." Another kick, a little harder.

The girl stirred, hands tightening on her legs and then relaxing. She looked up at Logan, her brown eyes full of tears, she had obviously been in some sort of pain the entire night.

"Hey" She said, loosening up, spreading her legs out in front of her. Logan noticed that her jeans were a few sizes too small, the cuffs pushing up her ankles. She crossed her arms over her chest, then thought better of it, grabbing her bag to her body.

Logan frowned, and the girl flinched.

"Alright kid, what's your problem?" He asked, annoyance clear in his voice.

"I'm insane." She said, quite clearly, her brown eyes wide as she stared into Logan's face. It must have been the way she said it, but Logan frowned again. She looked about fourteen or fifteen, a little young to be talking so morbidly. But it was just his luck that he always got stuck with the crazy ones.

"Good, you'll fit right in." He said, grabbing her arm to pull her up. All of a sudden, a feeling washed over him, calm and peaceful, a tranquil mood all things considered. The girl instantly relaxed, the tears drying up as she was hauled to her feet. Logan let go of her arm and the pained look on the girls face returned, a hand instantly clutching her chest while the other held onto her bag.

"Jesus." Logan muttered. "You could warn a guy."

"Sorry." She muttered, looking at the ground.

They stood there for a while, the man confused and the girl shuffling her feet, embarrassed.

"Alright. I'm Logan."

"Ant."

Another raised eyebrow.

"Some nickname that stuck in Junior High?" He asked, crossing his arms and staring down the girl.

"Nah." She shrugged.

"Get up to the school then kid. I don't have time to hold your hand." Logan said, turning back to his bike. He looked back and Ant hadn't moved, her hand clenched tight against her chest, right above her heart.

"I can't go up there." She muttered. Logan turned.

"Why not?" He asked, his voice measured. Ant flinched.

"There's too much up there." She explained. "I feel everything. And it's . . . painful." Ant said, clenching and unclenching her hand. Logan's eyes narrowed and her shoulders hunched up. He walked over to the girl and took her hand off her chest, the serene feeling flooding through him again. The shirt was nearly worn through, a clear sign that she did the action a lot. Through the slight grime of the gauze-like shirt, Logan could see – and smell now that he was close enough – that blood was seeping through. Ant had been worrying at this part of her body so much that it was covered in bruises, cuts and dried blood. Unable to feel anything but peace at this revelation, Logan stepped back from the girl, dropping her arm.

Instantly he felt disgust, worry and annoyance, and Ant cried out a little, her eyes widening.

"Okay kid." He said slowly. "I'll take you up to the school."

Ant looked at him and then at the ground.

"What? Isn't that what you wanted?" Logan asked, crossing his arms at the girl.

"You don't have to. I can feel that you don't want to." She muttered, not meeting his eyes. She was so shy, it seemed that she might disappear into the ground – an act not uncommon at Xavier's.

"You can explain this feeling thing to Ororo. I'll take you up and that's it, alright?"

Ant nodded. She opened her mouth to say something then closed it, thinking better of it.

"Jesus." Logan muttered. Ant flinched again. "What is it now kid?" He asked, frustrated.

"I told you." She said softly. "I can't go up there without someone holding my hand. I'll feel too much. And you already said you weren't going to hold my hand."

Logan nearly screamed, his eyes narrowing as the only sign of his irritation. Ant, though she couldn't see it, felt his anger as if he had shot her, she collapsed to the ground, hands at her mouth as she fought back the urge to retch.

"Jesus."

Ant was up in a second, barely having time to grab her bag. Logan had grabbed her wrist and was pulling her to the school. They were both overcome by a disturbing peacefulness, all of Logan's anger seeping away as, even through her dilapidated long sleeved shirt, her power overtook him.

As Ant was dragged up to the school, she allowed her eyes to wander. 'It looked so beautiful!' She thought, glad that she could be calm as she saw the academy for the first time. They attracted a few stares from some of the other kids, but luckily it was a weekday and most of the others were at lessons.

It was only too bad that word got around quick when there are physics in nearly every class.

Logan got to the head office, glad that Ororo had her break this period. He didn't even bother knocking, just shoved through the door, pulling Ant in front of him.

"Here." He said, wishing in the back of his head that he could feel angry, frustrated, annoyed, anything but this damn tranquility that overwhelmed him. Ororo looked up, surprised, then slightly angry at the way Logan was treating the girl, who only looked happy, a small smile on her face.

She got up and Logan let go of Ant's wrist.

A bad idea, as it turned out.

Ant gasped, and her eyelids fluttered, her eyes rolling into the back of her head as her legs went out from underneath her.

"For Chrissake." Logan muttered, catching the girl as she fell. Ororo had let out a small scream and had run over to Ant, her eyes full of worry.

"What happened?" She asked Logan, as Ant began to recover.

"Hell if I know." Logan said, wanting to growl in annoyance, his voice instead filled with the peace and calm that again flooded his mind. "She feels things apparently."

A few minutes later found Ant sitting in a chair across from Ororo, one of Logan's hands on her shoulder. It he didn't feel so damn calm he would be annoyed.

"Why don't you tell us what these feeling are honey?" Ororo asked nicely, leaning forward.

"I feel the emotions of other people. Happiness, sadness, annoyance, anger." Having a hand on her made Ant more outspoken and confident, especially knowing that she was around adults much older and wiser than her. "Everything. It just comes in at a rush. I can feel jealousy – it tastes like copper. Hate – that feels like I'm being bitten by bugs everywhere. Love smells like roses and tastes like tea and feels like soft sheets all at once." She described. The look of interest on Ororo's face urged her on.

"But normally I'm around so many people I can't feel an individual emotion – it normally doesn't work that easy with people anyway," She shrugged "Most people have more than one emotion at once and it's confusing." Ant searched for a way to explain it. "When I'm around other people. . .it's like. . ." She paused again as Logan's hand, which had grown steadily tighter on her shoulder, relaxed. "Like I'm a radio, but I'm tuned into every station at once." Ant stopped, satisfied at her much-used metaphor.

With the pause Ororo took the chance to ask Ant another question.

"What's your name?"

"Ant."

"No honey, your real name."

Ant looked down and then back up at the head, her legs swinging slightly on the chair, large for her small size. "Antennae?" She said hopefully. A look from Ororo and Ant sighed.

"Francis Bell."

"I can see why she wants to be called Ant." Muttered Logan. Another look from Ororo and he stopped talking.

"What about your parents Francis?"

Ant looked up apologetically. "Ant please?"

"What about your parents Ant?"

"Mother's in Pennsylvania." She said. "My dad died a few years ago."

Ororo leaned forward again, a slight frown creasing her brow. "Does your mother know you're here?"

Ant bit her lip and Logan suddenly felt a wave of worry through his mind.

"No." Ant said, eyes fixed at the ground. "I had to leave. One night. One night – I don't even really remember what happened – but I was scared and angry and confused. I felt dizzy and nauseous and I felt my mother like I never had before. She was. . .discontent. It tasted like mud. She was angry and upset and I had so much pressure on my temples. I know she didn't mean it. That she was just frustrated for having to deal with me. That it was just a small adult temper tantrum.

"But I couldn't stay any longer after that. It was too. . .strange. She always felt guilty and it felt like my entire body was doused in cold water constantly. Whenever she was confused I felt dizzy and tasted something like ammonia. It was disgusting. I puked all the time and lost a lot of weight. I just decided one day to leave." Ant finished, a finger picking at a small hole in her jeans.

Logan felt regret and sadness as Ant related her story.

Ororo sighed. "Ant, we're going to have to work this out with your mother-"

"No!" Ant cried. "She'll just take me back! She was so protective she won't let me stay here for anything!" Her hand began to claw at her chest and Logan felt the worry and fear clutching at his chest like a vice. "Please! You can't tell her!" Ant yelped, her dark eyes filling with tears.

Orora took a few deep breaths. This girl obviously needed some help.

"Alright. We'll keep you here for a month. If you want to stay here after that fine – but you'll have to tell your mother where you are. If you want to leave, you can, no questions asked." Ororo stood up. "Deal?"

Ant nodded furiously.

"Good. Now, let's see if we can't do something about your accomodations."

Logan and Ant shared an emotion at the same time. Relief relaxed both their bodies – Ant grateful she could stay, Logan glad that Ant would become someone else's problem.


	2. The Who?

Ororo quickly called down another girl to her office. Ant's first reaction to the girl was to laugh, but she controlled herself, the taste of coconut filling Logan's mouth. The other girl was tall, lean, but in a muscle-hardened way, not like the nearly malnourished body of Ant. She stood there, arms crossed and leaning against the wall as Ororo gave the girl a new roommate.

She had an obvious attitude, with her grey-blue eyes, tanned face, sharp features and short spiky blue hair. Popping her gum and pushing down her denim skirt she nodded as Ororo explained the situation.

"Got it Ms. Munroe." The girl said, rolling her eyes. She held a hand out to Ant. "C'mon then. I need to show you around right?"

Ant nodded and took the girls hand.

"Thanks."

"No prob. I got this Ms. Munroe." The blue haired girl said to Ororo. "We can take care of ourselves."

Logan left, glad that he could finally get the hell out of this crazy school, at least for a little while. Ororo sat back, looked at Ant and then at the other girl. "I hope so."

Ant was amazed as she was pulled down the hallways, the girl pointing out classrooms and halls and the few people wandering the corridors. She was constantly talking, and seemed quite unaffected by Ant's power, accepting it as just another mutant's ability.

"M'names Jamie, by the way." She said as she showed Ant around the kitchen. "You?"

"Oh." Ant said, looking around the large dining hall. "Call me Ant."

Jamie hardly raised an eyebrow, again just accepting it as a 'mutant thing'. They passed another door and Jamie pointed it out explaining that it was the Professors room and no one was supposed to go in there. Ant was slightly confused, but didn't say anything as she was pulled through the corridors.

"All the dorms are this way." Jamie said, climbing up a flight of stairs. "I don't know how you'll be able to sleep though. Considering your power."

"What's yours?" Ant asked, wondering what else mutants could do. Jamie paused for a second, thinking of how to describe it accurately.

"Well. I have a physical mutation. You know, some people have mental, others physical, and some have elemental mutations. That's really the three main categories. Anyway, it's like being an Olympic gymnast on steroids. I can jump higher, run faster, swim longer, that sort of stuff. I have a great sense of balance too. So it's like I'm a stunt double on one of those cheesy Jackie Chan movies, except I don't need wires."

"Cool." Ant said, dragging her bag on the floor as Jamie came to a stop outside a wooden door. The number on the plaque read '23'. Jamie started to look for a key.

"I don't normally need one of these things." She muttered, patting down her dark grey tank top with one hand. Suddenly she smiled. "Found it." She reached a hand up her shirt and into the strap of her bra. Ant's eyes widened. If that wasn't the most audacious thing she hadn't seen in a while!

The door opened into a moderately spacious room with a dresser, two twin beds and a small stereo on a bed stand between the two beds. It was obvious which one on the beds was unoccupied; Jamie had decorated hers with tie-die sheets, a checked duvet and pictures that covered the entire headboard and over spilled onto the wall.

"It's good that the walls in the dorms are thicker than the ones around the school." Jamie said, leading Ant over to her bed. "How are you going to shower?"

"I wait until everyone's asleep." She said, tossing her bag on her bed and sitting next to it, one hand still clutching Jamie's. The blue haired girl sat next to her on the bed and started to explain the school, it's schedules, some of the cliques ("Don't mess with any of the physics, trust me, they find out about everything.") and the teachers.

About twenty minutes later, Ant only getting in a few words edgewise, not that she minded, a knock came from outside the door.

"Come in!" called Jamie. In a quick blur someone entered, closed the door and sat across from Jamie, all in the space of less than a second. Ant gave a little squeak and started, surprised at the sudden appearance of a boy with dark hair and dark blue eyes that positively sparkled with mischief.

"Finally got yourself a girlfriend, huh Acrobat?" The boy said, smirking. "Don't let her fool you girl, she's awful mean."

Ant just stared at the boy as Jamie threw a pillow at the boy.

"Shut up Owen." Jamie sneered jokingly. "Just because you can't get one-"

At this Ant was absolutely mortified. The look on her face and the taste of garlic caused Jamie to stop and Owen to burst out laughing.

"I'm playing, really." The boy snorted. "You must be new." He said, holding out a hand to shake. "I'm Owen, don't play me in hide and go seek."

Ant frowned, slightly confused. She stood up and shook the boys hand, but as she did so, Jamie let go of her other one, leaving Ant helplessly attached to Owen as the calm feeling slid over him. The tranquility was quickly replaced by the smell of something over-ripe, a sign of Ant's embarrassment.

"Sorry." Ant muttered, blushing. "I can't help it."

Owen looked over at Jamie, who returned his smirk, looking incredibly self satisfied. Ant stood there, holding Owens hand. He made as if to pull his hand away from hers but Ant's eyes widened and she gripped onto him harder.

"I need to be touching someone else." She said, her eyes boring into Owen's dark blue ones. "Trust me. If I'm not, it won't be pretty."

The boy shrugged. "Have it your way." He said, sliding over and switching hands with Ant so that she could sit comfortably. "What's your name girl?"

"Ant."

Owen rolled his eyes. "Didn't you tell her Acrobat? Hero names are for the heroes."

Jamie glared at the boy. "My name is Jamie, alright? And it's her first day. She'll learn." Owen sighed.

"Well, if you want to play that game girl, call me Mercury."

"What's your power?" Ant asked quickly, before she could stop herself. Jamie smiled.

"I'm really fast." Owen said, pulling Ant closer. The younger girl gulped, and Owen's chest felt tight with apprehension as he pulled her towards him. "And I can find anything you ever wanted."

"That's great, really." Ant said, trying to scoot away from Owen. "But can you stop that?" She asked, beginning to panic a little. "Please?"

Owen laughed. "Wow Acrobat." He said, turning to Jamie. "You got her trained up good." It was in that second that he let go of Ant's hand. Ant, who had been too busy trying not to get any closer to the boy than necessary, accidentally let her hand fall.

It was a few minutes later that she woke up again, her hand being held by Jamie as Owen held a wet rag to her face.

"Damn girl." Owen said, his face pale even for his own light complexion. "You weren't joking."

"What happened?" Ant muttered, not trying to get up.

"It was like you had a seizure Ant." Jamie sputtered. "You just kinda sank to the floor and started to shake. When we tried to get near you, your body would just turn away and go all rigid and we thought you weren't breathing or that your heart had stopped or something. It was insane!"

"Sorry." Ant mumbled, sitting up and taking the glass of water Owen offered her.

"Sorry!" Jamie cried. "It's us who should be sorry! I didn't even really believe Ororo when she told me you need constant contact! And this jerk here went and let go of you!" The girl took a few deep breaths. "You're better now right?"

Suddenly both Owen and Jamie were filled with the smell of rain and a wave of gratitude washed over them. Ant was smiling, using the back of her hand to wipe away a few drops of blood from a cut on her temple. Her leg was just barely touching Owens back, but it was enough to have her power affect him.

"Thanks. I'm better."

Jamie sighed and Owen smiled. The boy stood and stretched. "Well, we need a bit more joy and joyfulness in this room. Hold on and let me get a few CD's." Before Jamie had time to make a smart comment, Owen was back with a huge case bursting with all sorts of music.

"Here. A little bit of punk never hurt anyone." Owen said, flipping through the CD's and popping one stereo. Music filled the room and the boy sat down at the edge of the bed, his hip just touching one of Ant's legs. As the stereo started, color instantly rushed back into Ants face and she sat up quickly, loosing her hand from Jamie's. Owen hastily put his hand out on her knee as Ant listened to the music intently.

"Wow." She muttered. Owen raised an eyebrow and Jamie had a confused look on her face as she ran her hand through her hair. Ant reached over to the stereo and turned it up, letting the hard beats pulse through the room.

"What's up?" asked Jamie, now messing with her small silver hoop earring.

"You know, I've never really listened to music before." Ant said, staring at the speakers. "Mother never let me, and I didn't really care anyway. My dad liked Chopin and Bach and stuff like that. But this stuff." Ant's dark eyes were wide. "It's incredible. It has feelings all its own."

Owen looked over at Jamie. "I am amazing." He said arrogantly as Ant continued to pump up the volume.

Jamie rolled her eyes. "The amazing Owen finds just what's needed. Again. Like always."

The boy smiled. "Ant!" He had to yell over the music. "I'm going to let go of you for a second." Ant's eyes widened, this time with fear, but before she could say anything, Owen lifted his hand off her knee. Ant closed her eyes, clenching them shut. She waited a few seconds then opened them, looking around.

"Hey!" She said, smiling. "I feel the music!" Ant giggled and put her hands up to her mouth, laughing. Jamie rolled her eyes and reached across the girl to turn the music off, holding onto Ant's hand.

"Alright. So we got a cure for little miss sunshine. Now what? We can't have Anti and Senses Fail blaring across the loudspeakers twenty four-seven."

Owen smiled. "I find solutions like you find ways to skip class. We just get a CD player, some heavy duty headphones and bang! Dear little bug here just plays it around the grounds and corridors and such and in class she'll just have to sit close enough to someone to have their legs touch or something. That way she can concentrate on the teacher instead of the Screeching Weasels."

"The who?" Ant asked, looking confused.

"Them too, but let me get you a few mixes made alright?" Owen said, smiling. "Tell me I'm not a genius."

Jamie frowned, sighed and rolled her eyes. "You're a genius."

Owen smiled, ego satisfied and left in a small flutter of sheets and a banging of a door.

"Is he always so. . . helpful?" Ant asked, trying hard to be polite.

Jamie sighed.

"Only when he feels like it, I'm afraid." She said, running her hands again through her hair. "He can be quite a pain. Don't let him get to you." Jamie warned. "And don't believe anything he says. He's quite the character."

"I like him." Ant said. "He's funny."

The other girl smiled. "Don't like him too much Ant. He's comes on fast and leaves faster."

Ant blushed furiously. Jamie didn't have to worry. Boys were one of the last things on her mind at this point.


	3. Belial

The next chapters written, but I'll wait a day to put it up. Thanks for the attention!

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He never told anyone.

That bastard.

He never told anyone.

He loved once, you know.

And he didn't tell a dammed soul.

I don't know my mothers name. I don't think anyone would tell me if they knew. He was a demagogue, playing on peoples fears and prejudices. And he was so powerful.

I guess it's better this way though. I had to grow up quick. I had to grow up tough. And I had to grow up to his expectations.

Even when he was up against his largest fear, his best friend. No. No one ever knew. Heaven only knows how he kept me a secret. My mother wasn't a mutant, so when I was born I guess he had a few fears that I wouldn't be one either. Five years old: Fears relieved.

He always wanted the best for me. Only wanted the best. But I hated him for it. I ran away and didn't say a thing. He didn't look for me either. I would have known if he had sent anyone out after me.

I inherited quite a few things from my father. The mutant gene, for one thing. Magnetism, charm, an amazing ability to find just what to say or do to really tug at a persons heartstrings. I win over the people, I win over the power.

I guess we're a lot a like, my father and I.

But for one thing.

He loved. I don't think I know how.

My name, dear diary?

Mordecai Xavier.

A servants name. A slaves name. I have named myself quite differently, the title from the same biblical origins, but from vastly different men.

Call me Belial.


	4. Stand

Certh – Thanks so much! I haven't really read the comics; don't hold it against me, so I don't know the last names or even the correct spelling. XP. If you could help me out at all then it would be greatly appreciated.

The next morning it was Monday, and time for classes. Owen had found an old CD player no one wanted, and had run (literally) into town to recover a clunky pair of headphones, huge, cushioned things that drowned out everything. Including feelings.

Ant had taken a shower during the night, the feeling of dreams and the few mutants awake was unnerving, but bearable for the duration of her short shower. Her hair had dried straight, and now that it was clean, it looked much lighter, the color a shiny blonde and brunette mix, due mostly to the amount of time the girl had spent outside. She pulled it back into a loose bun at the bottom of her neck, a few stray bangs pushed behind her ears.

She didn't have any clean clothes, or any that fit or weren't totally worn through, so Jamie lent her a pair of cutoffs some ratty flip flops and a t-shirt that had some surfing brand on the back. Ant had thanked her profusely, but Jamie shrugged it off, saying that she had plenty of clothes.

"Alright Ant." Jamie said, lightly touching the other girls shoulder. "You ready for a test drive?"

"No?"

The blue haired girl smiled, turned on the CD player and put Ant's headphones on her head. "No time like the present? Yeah. I think so too." She giggled, pushing the girl out into the hallway. Ant flinched and stumbled into the hall and with her hand on the opposite wall recovered her balance. "Oops, I guess I don't know my own strength." Jamie said, walking out behind Ant, shutting the door behind her. The younger girl couldn't hear Jamie anyway and just laughed along as Jamie giggled.

Jamie beckoned to Ant and she followed her, passing harmlessly through the light crowd that filtered through the hallways. Downstairs, Jamie held up a hand and Ant waited. A few minutes later and Jamie came loping gracefully back (Today she was wearing a pair of loose boys cut plaid shorts, which made everything only that much easier to do,) carrying two bagels absolutely slathered in cream cheese.

"Here. We'll go hang on the terrace." Jamie said, grabbing Ant's hand, stuffing the food into the other and pulling down the girls earphones. "Owen'll find us if he looks, unfortunately. But, gods willing, he'll be so caught up with Yvonne that he won't bother."

"Who's Yvonne?"

"His newest project." Jamie shrugged. "She's too nice for him. I say he needs to go into town, get a really bad girl and find out just what a wuss he really is." She sighed as she pushed open a glass door leading out onto a balcony. "It seems that the two things that boy can't find are a steady girlfriend and his own flaws."

Ant laughed and stepped through the door, then paused. Out on the balcony were the strangest looking bunch of kids she had ever seen. There were about five or six of them, and only two looked like they might fit into normal society.

"Jamie," A man stood up in back, the only adult present, "Good of you to join us. Who is your friend?"

"Hey Mr. Warren." Jamie said, smiling slightly. "This is Ant. She's new." Ant shuffled her feet, looking down at the ground. Ant wondered why Jamie was being so quiet; she normally would go on with her introduction for a good five minutes.

"Well then." The man stepped forward, holding out his hand. "It's good to meet you Ant." The girl looked up and noticed, for the first time, the wings sprouting out of the mans shoulder blades. Her eyes widened in awe, but she didn't say anything, just shook his hand silently. As Ant and Warren made contact all three of their throats clenched as if they were just about to gasp and their noses suddenly picked up the scent of mint.

"Oh!" Ant squeaked, embarrassed by her obvious wonderment "Sorry!" She blushed.

Warren laughed a little and resumed his seat. "Not a problem Ant." Warren said, smiling slightly, a few of the other kids who had fallen silent breaking off into separate conversations. "Does your ability to project your emotions also give you the power to receive them?" He asked.

Ant nodded.

"Good." Warren said, and Ant looked at him, frowning. "The ability of empathy is something the entire world could use." The winged man smiled and then turned to one of the more normal looking kids, apparently picking up where he had left off.

"C'mon." Jamie said, pulling Ant over towards a boy and another girl. "I'll introduce you to some of my friends."

The boys name was Argus. He didn't know his real name – his father had abandoned him once his mutation became apparent at age three. He had really short, light blonde hair and bright green eyes – all over his body.

"Sorry if I. . . disturb you." He said, turning his head towards Ant. He was wearing dark sunglasses, to hide, according to a whispering Jamie, his skin-covered eye sockets. "I'm not looking. . .at your boobs. . . I swear." Argus said, smiling.

Ant laughed out loud, and the smell of pineapple overcame Jamie's nostrils.

"We have a thing here for mythology." Jamie said, looking over Argus. "There's you and Mercury she's met so far. Anyone else she should know about?"

"Warn her about Venus." The girl said, looking up from a notebook.

"Totally." Argus said, nodding at the girl – green skinned, bald, and wearing a t shirt from the musical 'Wicked'. "She's not one. . .you'd want. . .to cross."

"Venus?" Ant asked, not really wanting to know.

"She's one of the few girls Owen won't look twice at. I think there's four total." Jamie said, giggling. "She's got almost every boy wrapped around her finger, Argus included." The boy sneered and Jamie continued. "She can release endorphins in your brain and create certain chemicals throughout your body that in essence, just make you horny. Venus can also control how much she lets out and who for and stuff like that." Jamie shook her head. "Trust me, she's not one to even talk too, you don't even realize how much of a pain she can be."

Suddenly the bell rang.

"Damn it all!" The entire terrace fled, including Jamie, who clutched onto Ant's hand as she raced through the halls. "We don't know your schedule-"

"Taken care of." Owen suddenly appeared next to Ant, giving her a sheet of paper that had her classes and a map of the school. "She's in Combat with us, then I have her for Ethics and Maths, after that she's on her own for Government and then we're with her again for whatever Logan feels like teaching today."

"Combat?!" Ant squeaked. "I can hardly stand up by myself! You all are eighteen or something and you expect me to be on the same physical level as you!? I don't even think I've ever thrown a punch!"

"For one thing, I'm just sixteen," Said Jamie. "For another, you don't want to flatter Owen." She said as she turned a corner quickly, coming to a stop in front of a burnished steel door, out of place amid the wooden décor. "He's only been seventeen for a few weeks."

"Almost a month, alright?" Owen said huffily, opening the door for the two girls. They stepped into an amphitheater-like lecture hall with a giant stage in front. The three took a seat about midway up on the right side.

"So what's this class like?" Ant whispered to Jamie, who sat on her right. They had let go of each others hands and Ant had placed her leg near Owens, so that their knees and calves were just barely touching on the bench-like seats.

"Interesting." Jamie said. "Really, really interesting." She smiled, leaning over onto the desktops.

"She's just jealous 'cause this is the only class she can boast a better grade than mine."

"You get good grades?" Ant asked, a little surprised. Owen didn't seem the kind of guy to try hard at anything, much less school.

"Somehow he always manages to find the right answer." Jamie snorted. A small boy walked into the class and a few people fell silent. Ant looked up at the short boy. He had incredibly dark brown hair that was just barely able to be pulled back into a ponytail at the base of his neck, black shorts, an orange Power Rangers t-shirt and a few books tucked into a messenger bag.

"Is that the teacher?" Ant whispered, she didn't think she would be surprised if he was.

"No." Owen said, "Though he could be. Hey Shogun! Over here dude!" Owen yelled, waving the boy over.

"His name's Shogun?"

"Hero names, Ant." Owen said, smiling as the boy nodded and walked over towards where they were sitting. "Are for heroes."

"Hello Owen." The Asian boy said as he sat next to the blue eyed flirt. "How are you Jamie, Ant?"

"We're good, how 'bout you buddy?" Owen asked, not bothering to explain how Shogun knew Ant's name. Jamie supplied the answer.

"Psychic. And a damn good one too."

Before Ant had a chance to respond, the door slammed open and drew everyone's attention to the woman walking down the middle of the classroom. Ant's eyes widened, not for the last time, at the mutants appearance.

Tall, with sandy blonde hair cut raggedly at her shoulders, the woman's entire body was covered with umber colored plates. She didn't wear a shirt, her armor-like skin keeping her decent, although her curves were obvious. Her pants were an army green, with a tear in the backside through which protruded a gruesome looking tail, complete with armor, segments and stinger.

"Professor Susanna." Jamie muttered. "Her tail has enough poison in it to wipe out New York City twice over. She drains it every week and sends it off to about thirty different labs to use for experimenting on venom."

"How old is she?"

"Nineteen." Owen whispered. "The youngest in the school. She beat out Logan for this position, you know."

The teacher turned, and Ant saw that her eyes were a jet black – no white whatsoever.

"Alright kids!" Susanna barked. "Did anyone learn their lesson yesterday or do we need to go over a few things?"

Of course it would be Owen to raise his hand.

"Professor? Remind me again the proper way to impede a mental mutant." He said, smiling impishly. Ant just knew that he was up to no good what so ever.

"Owen? Remind me again the proper way to impede an angry teacher." She replied, snarling amid the small round of laughter that accompanied Owen's comment. "And since you're so eager to show me up, come down here and I'll give you a few more bruises to add to your collection."

"Any gift from you, dear Professor, is a gift I treasure." The boy said, standing. Ant quickly shifted positions and her calf touched Jamie's as Owen flitted lightly down to the raised podium.

Ant couldn't follow any of it. It was just a mass of moving muscle and legs and arms and tail. Every now and then she would catch a glimpse of Owen pausing at one end of the area and Susanna hanging off the ceiling, her serrated fingers and two footed toes attached firmly to the top of the room.

"Is he winning?" Ant asked what seemed to be the hundredth question that day. "I can't see a thing." Jamie stopped her cheering to answer.

"Nah, Owen never wins. Somehow or another he finds an opening every now and then, but mostly he just flits about, looking pretty and trying to impress the girls by bragging about how long he held off the professor- Look! She's got him good now!"

The scorpion had hooked one of her legs in between his, and was holding his arms behind his back with one hand. Her ductile tail was around her and the wicked looking stinger was held at his throat.

"Miss Suzy!" Owen gushed, face red. "You are too much!"

"Sit down you oaf." The professor grumbled, and Owen was next to Ant in a second, closer than he was before, if she remembered rightly.

After that a few more of the mutants went down to practice, starting with one end of the room and working its way to the right, where Ant and the other sat. It seemed that the professor tempered her abilities to match each student, and when it was Shoguns turn she smiled ruefully.

"Of course. My daily lesson in humility." She said as the boy made his way down.

Shogun bowed to Susanna and she returned the gesture.

"Do we need to go through this ordeal again professor?" The boy asked, all too formal for his age. It was slightly odd to see this eleven year old boy and the scorpion woman staring each other down. "Must I constantly prove myself to you?"

"One more time Mr. Quang-Minh. I'll let it go tomorrow."

"I have come to realize that there is never a tomorrow with you professor." Shogun muttered. He didn't have time to grumble anything else because the woman had come at him on all fours, not even fast enough for Ant to catch it, but fast enough for her to get trapped in Shogun's trap.

"A psychic bubble." Jamie muttered. "He used that last week too. It seems to be the easiest way to make her stop."

A few minutes later and Shogun was back up next to Owen, who gave the younger boy a high five. Ant looked over at the boy again, who was now digging through his bag. She laughed a little as he pulled out a handheld game console.

"Miss Rider?"

Jamie looked up.

"Coming!"

Ant sat forward, exited to see her friend in action. It was amazing! Jamie jumped around like a bungee jumper on steriods, staying one leap ahead of the professor, doing incredibly complex twists, turns and flips in the air. Jamie got in a few good kicks but was, in the middle of an overly-flamboyant flip, pile-drived to the ground by the unmerciful professor.

"Not bad Acrobat," Susanna said, standing and offering a hand to Jamie. She took it, thought about it, and then got up without trying anything else. The scorpion woman smiled.

"Good choice."

Jamie got back to her seat, rubbing her collarbone. Owen, whose thigh was touching Ant's, was suddenly filled with a rush of worry, a pungent smell attacking his nose and mouth.

"Tag." Jamie muttered, lightly hitting Ant on the shoulder. Worry was instantly replaced by fear, a horrible pain in the chest that made Owen gasp a little as it hit him. Ant looked down and saw Susanna motioning to her.

"The new one in back. Let's go girl!" Ant stumbled as she put on her headphones and turned the volume up as high as the silly machine would let her. She tripped as she walked down to the podium, only getting an odd look from an odd looking teacher as she arrived.

"All right!" Susanna yelled over the music that even over-large headphones couldn't contain. "Come at me!"

Ant's eyes widened. With what? She didn't control fire or anything, couldn't teleport, had no physical strength to speak of and was just short of being a klutz.

"Well?"

Owen began to get worried.

"Professor, she really doesn't have that kind of power-"

"Mr. Glassford, if I wanted your opinion I'd ask for it!" Susanna yelled up at the boy. "Now shut up and let the girl do what she wants to."

Ant was searching frantically. All she had at her back was a reserve of punk rock and a few seconds as Susanna shouting at Owen. She took a deep breath and ran forward. Just as the professor turned to the girl, Ant grabbed onto her arm.

'_Feel!' _Ant thought, scrunching her eyes up and pushing through an onset of emotions that came through her over-loud music: anger, hate, disregard, rebellion. It didn't hurt Ant too much; it felt like there was a buildup of pressure then suddenly it was easier to breath. She staggered back from the professor and opened her eyes.

Susanna was on the ground, clutching her stomach with one hand, supporting herself with the other and retching all over the floor. Ant's eyes widened.

"I'm sorry!" She cried, pulling a hand on the professor's shoulder. The scorpion woman made as if to brush the hand off then stopped as Ant tried to calm herself down, trying to just breathe in and out. The feeling of peace and tranquility returned to both their bodies and Susanna shook her head, hair falling into her face as she stood up.

You could have heard a pin drop. It took more than the average mutant to bring Susanna to her knees. Even Shogun had only managed to catch the professor in the position she had been in before he stopped her, and while a few others had managed to trick her into a few illusions, there was nothing that came even close to what was laid out before the Combat class's eyes now.

From the back of the room came a small whisper.

"Well damn."

Jamie elbowed Owen in the ribs and then stood up, clapping. The entire class rose to its feet and applauded the accidental victory.

It was all Ant could do not to catch fire, she was that embarrassed.


	5. Boys and Beer

Certh – The mutations normally show at puberty, right? But I kinda wanted Argus' eyes to form as a baby and then to come to the surface of his skin sooner than normal, so he wouldn't be blind for most of his life. I dunno. I just thought it was interesting. ;; And as for Suzy. . . Well, let's just leave it at you'll learn more about her later. Say, next chapter?

Aw. I'm getting attention, but only a few people are reviewing. C'mon guys. A few words?

* * *

Ant was walking through the halls with Owen, all too aware of the glances and stares she was attracting. Word traveled fast at Xavier's. 

"Warren teaches Ethics." Owen said as he pushed open the door to the classroom. "There are less people in here, everyone wants to take Combat." He said, even though he knew that Ant wouldn't be able to hear him. The boy directed Ant to an empty table that sat two.

She pulled her chair towards her and sat down, sliding forward and taking a look around the classroom. It was simple; a few chalkboards, a teacher's desk, and a TV in the corner. Much different from the arena setting of Professor Susanna's class.

The bell rang and a few more stragglers came in. Most looked like they could blend in perfectly with other humans, and Ant wondered why they were here at all if they could just pretend to be normal. There were some that, like Argus, would never be able to be accepted into society.

There was a boy with two extra sets of arms who waved at Owen, ("He's my roommate, a funny guy, really.") another boy that had something like gills and long, webbed fingers, a girl with what seemed to be spines shooting down her back and forearms, then the green girl showed up, smiled at Ant and sat down next to a nerdy looking kid with bad acne.

Then she came in. Every head turned, save Owens. Ant didn't know what everyone was looking at, she was only feeling the music blaring through her headphones, but she twisted in her chair to get a better look at the object of everyone's concentration.

Ant's mouth dropped.

The most gorgeous woman she had ever seen had just come walking gracefully through the door. She had bright blonde hair, gray-green eyes, long lashes and plump lips that would make any boys heart melt. With long legs, high cheekbones and curves in all the right places, she strutted over to a table, obviously kept aside for her and her beau, an equally gorgeous boy with wavy brown hair, light brown, honey-colored eyes and a body that would make Michelangelo blush.

The boy smiled at the girl and pulled the chair next to him out for her. Ant was still staring when he glanced over at her and winked, a barely perceptible motion that made Ant start and turn back to the book that was placed on her table.

Owen pushed his chair closer to Ant's and their legs touched. Ant looked up at the blue eyed boy and pushed her headphones down to rest around her neck, then smiled slightly at Owen. The boy nodded and Warren walked through the door, holding onto a few books.

It was too bad that Ant couldn't feel some of the jealous glares a few girls sent her way. They all knew Owen's reputation, of course, but that didn't stop their resentment.

The professor sat down behind his chair, thought about it and then stood up again, turning to one of the boards. In big, bold, white letters he wrote, 'Identification.'

"We'll continue the discussion we had yesterday." Warren said, turning back to the class. "Is there any way to safely, privately and tastefully identify mutants? Is it wrong? Or is it a right for people to know that you are a _homo superior_? Should being a mutant be considered a disease and be treated as such? Confidentially?" He asked, sitting on his desk and staring out at the class.

"You made some good points on Friday, does anyone care to review?"

Ant thought that, like most classes she had been in, everyone would just stare at the ground awkwardly, waiting for someone else to say something. To her surprise, causing a vibrating feeling in both her and Owens fingertips, at least seven people out of the small class raised their hand. Hands, in some cases.

"Morgan?"

The green girl smiled. "Although being a mutant is a personal problem, certain other people do have a right to know whether or not you are a mutant. Policemen, for example. Teachers, parents of other students," That drew a few laughs from the crowd, "colleges, universities, even the person who hired you has a right to know whether or not you have powers others don't."

"Easy for you to say, everyone can tell you're a mutant anyway."

The stunning boy sitting next to Venus, (filing her nails and far to absorbed with herself to bother with class,) had spoken, leaning forward and staring at Morgan. "Think about this. No one knows I'm a mutant. I have a good job, lots of friends, a family, kids. No one knows I'm a mutant. Suddenly I have to ID myself and put myself and everyone around me in danger of discrimination, hatred, intolerance and bigotry just because I can change the channel of my TV and radio without the dials? Some mutant's powers are so below level one they don't even bother learning about them, they just try as hard as they can not to use them. Is it fair to ID all mutants, just for the sake of a few?"

"What about mutants that can hide their really powerful mutations." This time it was the boy with bad acne. "Like a psychic? A good psychic with even minimal training can get out of or into most things. Banks, minds, stuff like that. Wouldn't it be better if police had a surefire way of knowing what to look out for when dealing with a psychic?"

So the battle raged. It was split pretty evenly down the line, one half of the room against the other. The discussion ranged from doctor confidentiality to personal management of household matters. Everyone said something. Except two girls on opposite ends of the spectrum, Ant and Venus.

The discussion was drawing to a close, and Ant decided to say something, mostly to support Owen, who was doing a lot of talking himself.

"I think," Ant started, drawing the attention of the class to her. She blushed, but took a deep breath. "I think that because being a mutant is something you can't change without help from another person – from a team of doctors, more specifically, that it's not like shoes or hairstyles. It's uniquely you. It's something personal, it's your DNA. People shouldn't have access to your genetic code. It's inside every cell in your body. If your DNA isn't your own business, then I don't know what is. So because being a mutant is so ingrained into every part of you, and well, because it is so personal, it should be private, and should be at the mutants discretion whom to reveal their DNA to."

Morgan, a few tables over, was just about to reply when the bell rang. Warren stood up from his desk where he had been taking notes and adding in his own comments – for both sides of the argument. "Good job today class." He said as the students filed out. Owen and Ant waited for the rest of the class to leave before the girl put on her headphones. They waved to Warren, who nodded and went back to his notes.

"Well that was fun." Ant said, sighing. Owen nodded, knowing that even if he did say anything, it would be lost underneath Rancid and Trivium. He suddenly had a piece of paper in his hand, writing already on it. Damn his speed.

'B bck sn. C U in Mths.'

"Wai-" But he was already gone, a little blur and some wind where he had been. Ant sighed and dug into her back pocket for her schedule, pulling out the map along with it. She had stopped in the hallway, hanging out by a wooden pillar, as she tried to discern the scribbles that made up the map of Xaviers.

The paper Owen had written on slipped out of her hands and floated up into the air. Ant's eyes widened as it folded into itself, still floating in air. A few seconds later and the paper had become a small butterfly that fluttered around in front of her. She held out her hand and the paperfly settled onto her palm, flexing its fiber wings.

A hand on her shoulder turned her. A momentary flash of surprise on the boy's face and then he accepted the unnerving calmness that emancipated from Ant. Her eyes grew even larger and her face flushed. She pulled down her headphones, realizing the breathtaking boy from class was talking.

"-Wanted to say thank you. I was fighting a loosing battle, considering the support the government has shown for a mutant ID." He made as if to let go of Ant's shoulder, but she quickly grabbed his hand, the paperfly taking flight above her shoulder. She blushed again.

"Sorry. Just. . Just give me a second to put some music on." She muttered her face red. Mint enveloped their noses and mouths.

"Not necessary." The boy said, walking into the main stream of the hall. "I kinda like this situation." He smiled slightly, an action that didn't look normal on his chiseled face. "I'm Tyler."

"Ant."

"Nice name. Where're you headed?"

"Math class. With." A glance down at her schedule, "David Verdanns."

"Cool." Tyler said, leading her through the corridors. "I have Danny for mathematics too. I"ll walk you to him."

Ant opened her mouth to say something but then decided that it wasn't worth it. She didn't know where she was going. And after the constant feel of Owens leg against hers in Ethics the headphones had felt awfully empty in the short period in the hall. Jealous onlookers watched as this fairly drab girl was lead through the halls by Tyler DeMille.

First Owen and now Tyler? Was this girl Venus' protégé? This was not flying well for some of the girls in the school.

They got to the class fine, and Ant saw that Owen was already there with a gray eyed girl who was dressed in Aeropostale and Hollister. Ant looked disappointed, assuming the girl was Yvonne.

"Seems like your friend is busy." Tyler said, pulling Ant towards another two-seater desk. "He won't mind if we sit together."

"But-"

"But what?" Tyler asked, raised an eyebrow. "Come on. What's he going to say?"

Ant shut her mouth and let herself sit next to Tyler, still holding his hand. She pushed her chair closer to his, and their legs touched. Ant dropped his hand and reached for the book on the table. She caught Owens eyes on her and she shrugged. What _was_ he going to say?

The class went along fine, Dr. Danny, as the kids all called him, was good-natured, but boring as hell. He said hello to Ant, asked about her a little, took a hint, and then began teaching again, assigning Ant a text and workbook. He even gave her a small messenger bag for her books. It was old and faded, but Ant thanked him generously.

Tyler didn't say anything to Ant the entire class, and it drove the girl insane. She had no idea what he wanted or why he was indulging her need for contact. What was this boy's problem? She tried hard to keep her thoughts inside her own body, but it didn't work out as well as she had hoped. The two smelled bleach the entire class.

As soon as the bell rang, Ant jammed her headphones on her head and literally ran out the door, not caring how many other kids she touched, just glad to be out of that room and away from Tyler. The other mutants shied away from her as she accidentally bumped into them, spreading the chemical scent throughout the noses of anyone in her vicinity.

Owen caught up with her and steered her towards lunch.

"Won't Jamie be out on the terrace?" Ant asked Owen, pulling her headphones down after he grabbed her hand, .

"Yeah, but I can't stand the way she looks at Warren." Owen muttered, going into the kitchen and digging in the fridge.

"Why aren't we in line?" Ant asked as Owen reappeared, holding two bottles of beer.

"Logan needs his booze." Owen said, holding Ant's hand and the two beers in the other. "Here, put these in your bag."

Ant's eyes widened but she did what Owen said, and they made their way through the deserted halls towards Logan's classroom.

"What does he teach?"

"Whatever he feels like."

"Really Owen."

"English. Although I doubt he's ever read a book in his life." Owen said, turning another corner. "Today I'm guessing. . .he'll lecture us on knowledge. It's one of his favorite things to talk about."

"He doesn't seem one to talk at all." Ant said. "Grunting, growling and snarling seem to compromise the extent of his vocabulary."

Owen stopped and laughed. "Did the bug make a joke?" he asked, covering his mouth with his free hand. "Just don't let Logan hear you say that. He'll-"

"Don't let Logan hear what, fairyboy?" growled a deep voice from behind them.

Owen turned.

"Logan! Good to see you man!" Owen said, shaking the teacher's hand. "I got your beer-"

"Shut it." Logan said, reaching into Ant's bag to take his drinks. "Come in, but keep your trap shut."

Owen smiled and pulled Ant into the classroom after Logan. She looked around. It was much more laid back than the other teacher's rooms. No TV, cluttered desk. A few bottle caps lying around. It seemed like he slept here rather than taught a class.

"So Logan."

"Hm." The man growled, popping the cap of one of the beers and getting comfortable on the chair.

"I think I found something."

"What?" Logan sat up, his feet sliding off the desk. Ant put her headphones back on, but kept the music down lower than normal. It hurt, but Ant wanted to know what was going on. No one seemed to be telling her anything.

"I think that Xavier left something behind." Owen said, sitting on a desk in front of Logan. "I can't tell what though."

"What do you need?"

"Access into the Professors room."

"Done." Logan said, sitting back in his chair.

"Did you see the game last night?"

"Nope. Who won?"

That quickly, the subject changed and stayed away from the unfound object. The two men continued to talk in nearly monosyllables until the bell rang and students began to file into class. Owen sat in the seat next to Ant and Jamie came in with Morgan and took another dual desk next to Owen and Ant.

Ant settled down for this next class. She had a suspicious feeling that she wouldn't learn much. She looked over at Logan, who was finishing up his first beer.

Suspicions confirmed.


	6. Xenophon

I know you're out there people. . .-pokes-. One review is all it takes to brighten someone's day. Remember, a smile is worth a thousand words! (P.S. Thanks tons to Certh, who has reviewed every chapter so far!)

Not to mention I just realized that there is this button that disables anonymous reviewers. . . .Oops.

But on the bright side, this is one of my favorite chapters yet, One of the shortest, but my favorite. And, as a quick edit. There's a link to a pic I drew of Susanna on my profile page. A little grainy, but I had fun.

* * *

It had been a long day for Belial. He now sat on a chair, his suit scrunched up under him as he slouched. His hair was tousled, his eyes bleary and he clutched a scotch in his hands that were clasped in front of him. 

He didn't look as imposing as he thought he should.

Sighing, Belial stood, drank the last of the liquor, and walked out the door of his office. It wasn't really an office, more a desk where papers, writing utensils, reports and fan mail was stored. As he walked, he straightened his suit, pulling down the arms and patting the pleats. He undid his tie and unbuttoned the first couple of buttons on his shirt and completely unfastened his jacket.

He walked through his base of operations, a tall building that was almost a skyscraper, with windows that looked out onto the large city. He owned the top seven floors and two of the basements, the penthouse being his own personal directory. Belial smiled as he stepped into the elevator to take him down to the other mutants. It was good to be on top.

Let me take the minute that Belial spent in the elevator to describe him a bit more. He was in his early twenties, with his father's blue-grey eyes. He was tall, about six one or six two, short blonde-brown hair that was stuck up in spikes because he ran his hands through it to much. With a straight nose, high cheekbones and thin lips, he had a sharp face. Open and attractive, Belial could've been a model in any nation.

The elevator door pinged and three mutants stood up. They had been waiting for Belial for nearly three hours. Belial nodded to them.

"Alright. I think." A pause. "I think that we're in the clear for that last bit of work."

No one said anything.

"Medusa, I want a report on the mutants attending my fathers school. Typhoon, I want a list of donations made to Xaviers, if they are anonymous, find them. Switch, -" A girl, by far the youngest of the group, looked up, "Just stay here."

The one called Medusa was an elegant woman, long legs and arms. Her entire body, however, was covered in scales that ranged in color from green to brown to white on her belly and insider her arms and legs. She had snake-like eyes, yellow and green with iris pupils, and no white. Her hair was black and cut short and pushed to the side, a few bangs falling into her eyes.

"Some of the files are unattainable." Medusa hissed. "Should I just try to filter out those of no threat and give you a number? Or do you want specifics?"

"I want it as specific as you can make it." Belial replied. "You both have week."

Typhoon, a lean young man, probably only a few years younger than Belial, with bright blonde hair that hung into his face nodded. He was a man of few words but lots of action, and it was obvious that Switch looked up to him, mimicking his strong stance.

"What about me?" Switch asked, dark brown eyes peering at Belial from beneath frizzy hair. "C'mon Bee, let me do something!"

Belials eyes narrowed. Level five, level five, level five, was the mantra Belial thought as he watched Switch. She was awful young to be in this group of elites. Sixteen, hormonal, hyperactive and with no social skills whatsoever, Switch was one of the most powerful mutants Belial had ever met. It was only unfortunate that she was aware of the fact.

Belial looked at Typhoon and Medusa. "You can leave." They nodded and went into the elevator behind Belial, descending down to the private basement, where they could go into their cars unnoticed.

Switch stared at Belial, eyes wide with apprehension.

"Switch." Belial said, massaging his temples. "Can you do something for me?" His voice had turned to honey, always a bad sign.

"Sure Bee."

Belial stared at Switch, sighed, and began to talk. Switch stood and listened. It took ten minutes for the man to outline his plan to the girl.

"Got it capitan!" the girl said, making a mock military salute. "No problem, really. I'm great with kids."

"This won't just be kids Switch. It'll be everyone." And for another ten minutes, Belial taught Switch how to speak.

"I'll get right on it." Switch said, a little bit more serious. "Don't worry about it. One week?"

"Yes."

Switch nodded. This wouldn't be so hard. One week to get impressionable, oppressed, fearful and discriminated mutants to join up with a man who promised near infinite freedom. Piece of cake.

Belial sighed. Hopefully Switch wouldn't totally screw up his plan. And it was such a nice plan. He stepped out of the way of the girl, who pushed the button for the elevator.

Belial looked down.

"Switch,"

"What's up?" she asked

"Why aren't you wearing any shoes?"

Switch looked down as well. She looked back up at Belial and huffed, rolling her eyes as if the man were her father asking why her skirt was so short.

"They always break." Switch said, peering back up at the elevator. She narrowed her eyes. "Do you mind Bee?"

"No! Switch don't you-"

But it was too late. Switch had placed her hands on the burnished metal doors and they suddenly made a sucking sound. Two seconds later all that was left was a pile of dust and a hacking Switch.

"God! Get a maid up here or something." She coughed a bit more, looking no worse for the integration. "Alright!"

"Switch I swear if you set one foot-"

He didn't make it any further. Abruptly Switch had morphed, the metal that she had just absorbed changing her body. Her arms became metallic blades and extended almost a foot longer than her normal limbs. Her legs had also turned slightly reflective and thin rim-like wheels had appeared where her feet should have been. Switch's ankles had become axles and her head formed a protective metal covering. The silver streetsurfer.

"One week Bee!" Switch yelled as she jumped into the elevator shaft, her wheels morphing a little to get a grip on the cables, riding it like a tram car, defying gravity as she shot straight up. "See you then!"

Belial massaged his temples as two seconds later the elevator pinged and its doors opened to his apartment. He turned and watched the window as he saw a silver blur speed by him. Switch had her blade-arms out in front of her like an Olympic figure skater and her head down, eyes barely over the visor protruding from her forehead. Her legs were together and the wheels spun at a dizzying speed, carrying the girl down onto the street, where she cracked the pavement.

Two more seconds later and Switch was gone, off to tag all the mutant hotspots in Chicago, New York, LA, Miami and anywhere else that might hold a few discontents.

Belial took another deep breath and began to repeat his mantra again.

"Level five, level five, level five, level five."

There was really only one obvious reason that Belial could think of that justified his acceptance of Switch.

Shaking his head, he ran his hands through his hair again. That girl was such trouble. But she was cute, in a dorky kind of way. Kind of. He ran his hand through his hair a second time, and then paced across the room. Belial glanced at his watch.

Time for the show.

He went to another floor of his building, using the stairs Switch had so delicately made available to him. Opening the door he entered into a radio station getting ready to set up. He was the host of an AM radio station that came on soon.

Belial entered into one of the sound booths, nodding to his staff. He put on the headphones and waited for the queue from a manager. He got the green light and began to speak, his vocal tones smooth, reassuring, utterly mesmerizing.

"This is Xenophon, talking to you from the glorious city of Seattle. Welcome to the Power Hours, your talk show for mutants."

And on it went, attracting hands to dials like flies to lights.

He had over five million listeners worldwide. Five million men, women and children intent on listening to Belial's every word for just over two hours. Five million followers, mutants most of them, intent only on ending the fear and oppression they had grown up in.

It wasn't very healthy to listen to Belial for very long. Too long and you believed every word he said, would do anything he asked, would agree with his every view and contradiction. He only needed to voice a few words and he would have five million mutants at his beck and call.

It was an army Charles could never have even dreamt of controlling, not even with his mind and that of his assistant. But Belial, he could control a mob with a single syllable.

Belial had organized a power that no one could even begin to think about. It dwarfed the Brotherhood of Mutants a thousandfold.

He convinced them so absolutely that even psychics couldn't tell that he was using his power on them. He appealed to the emotions, to the heart, and didn't bother with a persons mind; it would follow whatever he said, simply because he said it.

Was it a scary notion?

Infinitely.

Was anyone scared?

The number was nonexistent. Simply because no one realized what was happening. Belial needed only one thing more. A figurehead. Someone the people already trusted. And it came to him in the form of his father's old organization. The X-Men.


	7. Trouble

To my reviewers: Thanks so much for your support! To my readers: Meh. Thanks for reading. A little mishap, I realized I had put Ant in five classes. XD. I completely skipped over Gov't two chapters ago.

A cool little thing: I uploaded a pic I drew of Susanna onto my bio page. Go check it out.

It had been about five days since Ant had first arrived at Xavier's, and Friday was finally here! The weekend was just around the corner, and even though Ant was new to the environment at the school, she was glad to have a break from classes.

In Susanna's class nothing much had changed. Ant had tried to do her feeling trick on the professor a few times more, but Susanna managed to doge it – not a hard feat – and sweep Ant's legs out from under her. Today Owen had found a few more openings than normal and had given Susanna a few rabbit punches to the head and a knee to the ribs before the scorpion woman elbowed him in his back, between his shoulder blades, and drove him to the ground.

Ethics was by far Ant's favorite class. Sitting next to Owen, and away from Tyler, she got a full view of the class's discussion. They had covered everything from identification to human rights to privacy, which led back to identification. Math, which should have been her best subject, only made her sick to think about. Nearly an hour next to the animator made Ant queasy. He hadn't done anything, but he was just. . . weird.

In government, Hank McCoy taught them all the general spread. The three branches, how they work together and apart and the steps to passing a law. Not to mention the inside scoop on politics. It was interesting, but all Mr. McCoy did was lecture, and it got boring.

Last was Logan's class. Ant considered it her 'unwind' time. Nothing happened, nothing was assigned, nothing was checked. Every now and then Logan would growl at the class to keep it down, but that was about it. Jamie, Morgan and Ant used this time to gossip with each other.

Finally the bell rang!

Jamie giggled, grabbed Ant's hand and fled Logan's classroom. She pulled Ant along the halls, her superhuman strength giving Ant no way at all to escape. They ran into their room and Jamie slammed the door, still giggling.

"We are so done!" She smiled, her fit of laughter still holding her. "Three day weekend baby!" Jamie did a fist pump in the air and Ant quickly put on her headphones. "Do you know what this means?"

Ant shook her head.

"I get to go take pictures!" Jamie said happily, on her hands and knees on the floor. She was digging through the space between her bed and the carpet. She pulled out a camera, a sleeping bag, two rolls of film, and a lunchbox.

"Just me, the woods, and my camera." She sighed. "Two whole nights." Jamie glanced over at Ant.

"So I won't be here tonight, or Saturday night. If I'm not back by," Jamie squinted, thinking. "Sunday evening, send Owen out after me."

Ant nodded. In their rooms she was able to keep her music down low enough to just barely hear Jamie. The girl quickly packed some essentials in a bag. Toothbrush, toothpaste, styling gel and a few extra pairs of clothes got stuffed into a little messenger purse Jamie had.

Ten minutes later, Jamie had her camera in hand and was climbing through the window.

"Be good, okay Ant?" Jamie said. "See you later!" A hop, skip, and a jump and Jamie was off and out the window, bouncing along towards the woods as if a trampoline was following her shadow.

Ant shook her head. This was not going to be a good weekend. She stayed in her room for a bit, did some homework, listened to some music and then sighed. This was boring! She was back in school with people who understood her, for the most part. What was she doing inside?

She decided to try to find Owen. For the past two days he and Shogun had been hanging out a lot, and shot Ant dirty glares whenever she came upon them alone. Ant had no idea where to start looking, but they seemed to show up in any place she wound up so anywhere around the school looked like a good idea.

Logan's classroom was always a good place to start, so Ant cranked up her music and shut her door behind her. Walking through the halls, she saw a group of girls. Still wary about large crowds, she tried to avoid them by walking on the other side of the hallway.

"Isn't that her?"

"She is! She's the one who-"

"No way!"

"But she's not even cute!"

"She's such a-"

"Slut!"

Ant, lucky for her, couldn't feel any of the emotions that were coming off these girls, but she realized something was wrong when the group, about five teenagers total, blocked her way.

One of them grabbed her arm and another pulled down her headphones.

"Where do you get off, huh?" One of the girls asked, a freckled blonde with big brown eyes. "Thinking you can just march in here and get any guy you look at?"

"What are you-"

Another girl stepped up. "Owen was my boyfriend a week ago, ever since you came here, he's latched onto you!" Ant opened her mouth to say that if Owen was ever the girls boyfriend, then she should know that he was easier than most rock stars. "Don't even say anything!" She shrieked her high-pitched voice cracking.

Well alright then. Ant shut her mouth, fully doubting the cruelty of a pack of girls.

"What about Tyler?" asked one of the shyer of the herd, a pretty little redhead in back.

"Yeah? You want Venus to kill you? You know that if you mess with her brother at all, then you are dead meat."

"Not to mention that Tyler almost never talks to anyone. Then you come around and all of a sudden he's in love with you?" A different girl with blue wave tattoos that stretched across her arms reached out ant grabbed Ant's chin, looking at her like a prime steak in need of an inspection for rot. "You're not even that _pretty_."

Ant's eyes began to fill. What did these girls know? She hadn't even done anything! At the last comment, the two girls who were holding onto her felt as if someone had punched them in the gut. They gasped and let go, Ant barely having time to put her headphones on.

She tried to make a break for it, not actually running, but trying to push her way out of the little pack. Her mouth filled with the taste of copper, there was a pressure on her chest and Ant went back to her old habit, her right hand clutching the bruised and broken skin right above her heart.

The girls quickly closed in on Ant, the blonde being the first to say anything.

"You little whore!" The girl screeched. Suddenly Ant felt a stinging slap on her cheek. Ant stepped backward, shocked. She couldn't believe someone would actually hit her. She didn't want any trouble, she didn't even really understand why the girls were mad!

"Why. . " That was all Ant could get out, utter confusion on her face. Another slap and she was down on the ground, hand on her cheek. One of the girls kicked her and the others started in on the girl, kicking her hard enough to bruise (but not much harder, they had been slacking off in Susanna's after all) forcing Ant to cover her face.

Suddenly, with tears spilling out from her eyes, Ant had enough.

"_Stop_!"

A feeling just exploded from Ant, hurt, anger, fear, everything that those jealous girls had made Ant feel in the past three minutes rebounded on them, an onslaught of emotions that made their hearts feel like they were getting ripped out. Bleach and copper assaulted their mouth and nose and they backed away from Ant, who for one blissful moment, didn't feel anything. A few fell to the floor and another two retched in the hall. One girl was leaning up against a pillar a few feet away.

"I knew I would find trouble today." Owen muttered, stepping over his ex and holding out a hand to Ant, who lurched up, taking his offer. Owen pulled the girl up and then stepped out of the half-circle of tormenters. He held onto Ant's hand and then put her arm around his shoulder, leading and carrying her to the nurse.

"You are so lucky we have a healer here." Owen grunted. "She's great."

Ant rolled her eyes. Another teacher Owen had the hots for? Nurse Trimly, however, turned out to be a seventy-something lady who just put a hand on Ant's shoulder. Suddenly, Ant felt better all over. The bruises that were starting to form on her arms, where she could see them, disappeared. She put a hand over her heart. It didn't hurt anymore.

"Thanks."

It was all she could say, the smell of mint and awe washing over the three mutants. Owen led Ant out of the nurses office, muttering darkly under his breath.

"No idea what I saw in her. I can't believe they would do that."

"Owen?"

"What kind of girls are they, that they don't have any respect for others-"

Ant gave up trying to ask Owen where they were going, he obviously had his mind elsewhere, and was just walking. About ten minutes of wandering the halls and listening to Owen rant to himself Ant sighed.

"Where's Jamie?"

"Uhm. She went to take photographs." Ant said, looking up at Owen. "She said that if she didn't come back by Sunday night that you need to go find her."

"She knows she's not supposed to go out alone! Why does she always do this to me?" Owen lamented, sighing at the heavens. "Alright. Lets go to Logans. I need to ask him about something."

"Something that you're going to tell me about?" Ant said, joking around a little.

"Maybe. Actually." Owen looked down at Ant. "I think so."

They came to Logans room and without even bothering to knock Owen pushed open the door. Ant's eyes quite literally bugged out of her head, and Owen nearly died of laughter until he saw the look on Logan's face.

"Do you mind." The man growled, his hands clutching tighter around Susanna. "I'm in the middle of something fairyboy."

"Let him stay Logan." The other professor simpered, drawing her hand across Logan's unshaved face. "Maybe he'll learn something."

"Out." Wolverine snarled. It was only Ant nearly crushing his hand to a pulp that made Owen close the door to the English classroom.

"I knew I would find trouble." Owen laughed, walking down the hallways. "I found you, then Logan and Susanna. What a pair." Owen collapsed against a pillar, still laughing.

"That's great!" He was still laughing, but Ant didn't see the hilarity of the situation. "Really Ant, it's funny!" Owen sighed. "Booger."

"What?"

"I called you a booger."

Ant blinked. "If you say so." Owen smiled and pushed off the pillar, pulling Ant towards him. He twisted and they ended up on the other side of the column, Owen leaning against the wood and Ant close to him, staring out into the hall.

"You know." The boy said, the arm that wasn't holding Ant's hand now resting on her shoulder. "Now that you've seen the pros go at it, what do you say to a little test drive ourselves?"

Ant's eyes widened and the tips of their fingers tingled as Ant began to get nervous and uncomfortable, a small feeling that just nudged the stomach in the wrong direction. She tried to pull away from Owen, but he held her close to him, about a foot away. His arm that had rested on her shoulder had snaked it's way around Ant's waist.

"Owen." Ant said, laughing a little as she tried again to get away from the boy. "Stop it." The boy could tell she didn't mean it.

"What if I don't want to?"

Ant's eyes, already huge, became even large as Owen became serious for the second time she had seen. She opened her mouth, shut it and then started again.

"What if I don't want you to?"

Owen looked at Ant for a while, smiled slightly, then leaned into Ant faster than she could react. He kissed her lightly on the cheek and then let go of her waist, stepping out from behind the pillar and beginning to walk towards the garden exit, Ant in tow.

"Then I'll wait until you do."

Ant flushed a deep crimson, the smell of fresh rain and mangos invading their senses. They tasted fruit throughout their entire walk in the garden.


	8. Office Space

Thanks to my reviewers! And to my readers who don't review. Yes, I appreciate you too. Although I would appreciate you more if you. . -cough- Reviewed? -cough- Please? -coughcough- Especially those readers who have favorited/alerted Touch.

So I was browsing the fan fiction database when I came up on a summary that looked, well, familiar. Turns out I'm not the only one with the genius idea to have a feeling mutant. –Sighs- Oh well. At least my story is completely different from this authors.

This chapter outlines Belial's plan. -Insert evil laughter here- And we get to see more of Shogun and his powers. Read with love and review with that same love. Quick Edit! I also have a picture of Jamie up on my account! Check it out!

* * *

It was the middle of the night when Ant woke up. There was an insistent tugging at her sheets and as she made to pull them back up to her nose they came away from her completely, exposing her legs and arms to the cold. 

"Who?" Ant groggily muttered as she sat up, rubbing her eyes. Owen smiled down at her. Ant glanced at the clock.

"Owen."

"Yes?"

"It's one thirty in the morning."

"You observational skills are unmatched."

"Your lack of tact is also unmatched." Ant grumbled, her hair spreading out around her head like a mane. She made a grab for her sheets and Owen pulled them neatly off her bed.

"Alright." Ant sighed, swinging her legs over the bed and standing up, reaching for her CD player. "What do you want?"

"Remember earlier today-"

"Yesterday." Ant interrupted, her normally docile demeanor lost as she recovered from her unexpected awakening. "But go on."

"Yesterday, when I was telling you about something? Or was about to? Well," A pause "I need your help."

"Owen. It's one thirty."

Owen sighed and grabbed her hand, pulling her out into the hallways. Outside the room was Shogun, leaning against the wall, his extra large t shirt bearing the logo of some television show, the cryptic Japanese kanji sprawled over the design.

"You got her?"

"Your observational skills are as unparalleled as the bug's." Owen said, turning down the hallway, still dragging Ant. Shogun skipped ahead, his longish hair falling just below his earlobes.

"So you can feel things right?" The boy asked, looking up at the girl.

Ant nodded.

"Good, we'll need you to tell us if you can feel anything."

"Where are we going?" Ant asked in exasperation as she was yanked down the stairs, two at a time, Shogun nearly running to keep up.

"Shogun and I have been working on something." Owen said, keeping his voice down. "We think something's wrong. He's been having a few premonitions-"

Ant looked back at Shogun, who was still struggling to keep an even pace with the two teenagers.

"And I've been finding a lot of weird clues. It's driving me insane! Not knowing something!" Owen fumed, his hand tightening on Ant's.

"He's just frustrated because he can't find an answer." Shogun said, his wide brown eyes staring at Ant.

"Shut up!" The speed mutant barked, turning a sharp corner. He immediately quieted and then replied. "I just need a little help, I'll get it soon."

"Alright," Ant said, now way more than a little confused, "I think I've been pretty patient with all this but I want to know-" She stopped suddenly, yanking her hand out of Owens. She flinched and clenched her fists, fingernails digging into her palms.

"What the hell is going on?" Ant asked slowly.

Owen sighed in frustration and put his hands on Ants shoulders, easing the pressure of the sleeping feelings.

"Look. We don't know a lot-"

"We know shit."

Owen glared at Shogun, who shrugged. "It's true."

"Alright. We don't know jack. Shogun has found out that a few of his psychic friends outside the school are in trouble. It seems like there is a new, much more powerful and influential mutant out there. And he's a mess of trouble. You know how some mutants can control another persons actions?"

Ant nodded, eyes wide.

"Apparently this one can do that. But not with just one person. With hundreds, we suspect that he can control even thousands of people. Even psychic barriers can't stop this mutant. The power over people this mutant displays is totally unprecedented. But here's the thing."

Owen lowered his voice even more.

"He's not _doing_ anything. He isn't hiding the fact that he can do this. He isn't flaunting it; he's smart enough not to wave it in the peoples face that he can control their actions." Owen paused, "But we have _no idea_ what he's doing. Do you understand why this is so strange? Magneto had the Brotherhood. Xavier had this school. The government had the sentinels. They did something with that power. This man isn't doing anything."

"What does this have to do with me?" Ant asked, her voice quavering a little.

Shogun piped up. "I think that this is somehow connected to the school. For some reason, no one in this school is affected. The world knows the X-men as saviors after their protection of Alcatraz and for their mission work over the world after that, continuing today. But this man, an unknown adversary, can't possibly expect to gain that kind of renown."

"How do you know it's a he?" Ant interrupted.

"This is all speculation by the way." Owen added on, continuing right through Ant's question.

"This man needs a reputation. He can't just come out and tell everyone to trust him. The world doesn't work like that." Shogun said.

"We think that if he can gain control over the school."

"In a clean sweep."

"With the X-men and all the students here." Owen nodded.

"Then he can somehow gain the power and trust of the rest of the mutants."

"Those that he hasn't convinced already."

"And could, feasibly-"

"Control the world." Shogun finished.

Ant looked from one boy to the other. Blinked, shook her head, then looked at them again.

"You're serious."

"Deadly." Shogun said, hands behind his back.

"Alright. Let's say this guy has the potential to control the world. Again. What can I do?"

"We want you to feel something." Shogun said, obviously trying to be patient with Ant.

"What?"

"Do you think you could tell my psychic power from another's?"

Ant stuttered. "I don't know. I've never tried."

Shogun sighed. "Brace yourself." He reached out and Owen let go of Ant. "This might be tricky. I've only done this with regular people." Shogun explained as he held Ant's hand. Ant didn't feel any different, then all of a sudden a rush of voices came flying at her. She closed her eyes to try to block out her sight, but a blast of images flew into her head as well.

"Hold on." Shogun said, his eyes also crunched shut. "It's so much easier to connect with you. . ."

The images and voices eased. Only a few showed up.

"I don't even know my husband anymore."

"The kids are acting strange."

"I don't know what's happening to them."

"They're addicted."

"It's so sudden!"

"They're all talking about mutants." Shogun muttered. Another second and there was only one voice left.

"Glad you're here, I don't know what to do. I'm so confused you know. We've been trading information for weeks and we still don't know what's happening."

_What's happening?_ It was Shogun's voice, but he wasn't speaking.

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. It just feels wrong."

_What does it feel like?_

Suddenly, across the psychic link came an explosion of energy. Ant gasped audibly and stepped back, falling into Owens arms. A few minutes later had Shogun slowly bringing her back into the realm of consiousness.

"What did he feel like?" Shogun asked impatiently. "Could you tell who he was? What was it like?"

Ant blinked.

"It tasted like honey." She said softly. "And he felt like the sun."

"Crap." Owen muttered. "Alright, get up then, we need to get to the office soon."

It was only a few more minutes walking when they got to the room. Ant recognized it as the Professors room Jamie had pointed out earlier in the week. Owen dug in his pockets and fished out a key. He quickly opened the door and shoved Ant and Shogun inside, shutting the door behind him.

"What did you do Owen?" Shogun asked, not really about to listen, running his hands over every object he could. "Whore yourself out?"

"Your mother Shogun." Owen growled.

In the middle of the room was a wheelchair. Shogun skipped around the object and went to the desk. Suddenly his eyes widened.

"Well." He muttered. Shogun glanced up at Ant. "Brace yourself." Owen quickly let go of the girl and in an instant she was overcome with emotions.

"Where is she?"

"Calm down."

"I want-"

"Calm down."

"Stop trying to-"

"Let me help you."

There seemed to be a constant reassuring presence around the energies that Shogun was projecting. It felt . . . warm. Peaceful and serene. It felt. . . like the sun.

Ant gasped again and instantly Shogun stopped transferring the forces that he picked up through the objects.

"What?" Owen asked, his voice rushed as he grabbed Ant's arm. "What was it?"

Ant shook her head, clearing her head of the thoughts she had just heard. She pushed back her stray hair and looked up at Owen. "They're related! The two emotions. They kinda feel the same. They're not supposed to; nothing's ever felt the same way twice."

"That's it!" Shogun cried.

"What is?" Owen whispered, annoyed that he couldn't find the answer.

"Xavier must have had a son. That son has similar mutant abilities to his father. What he needs is a reputation. He needs this school!"

"So what are we going to do?" Ant asked, looking at the two boys.

There was a long pause as Shogun and Owen thought of the implications of a mutant with almost unlimited control over people wanting to take over a small school for mutants. Who knew what kind of power this mutant wielded? Who was with him?

Who could stand against him?

"I guess. . .we wait." Owen said, shrugging.

"Agreed." Shogun nodded. "Telling everyone would either ensure a panic or ensure our lives as pariah's for the rest of our experience at this school."

"I'm already there." Ant muttered. "Look, we can't keep this to ourselves. Say we're wrong? Oh well, there's a couple future X-men trying to act the hero. What if we're right? Will we let this guy just take over our school? I've only been here a week, but I like this place more than anywhere else I've been." Ant said, practically a speech. "Let's tell someone! Ms Munroe, Logan, Warren, anyone! Some of the teachers are bound to believe us. Owen, what about Logan? He's the one who helped you get that key, he must think you're onto something!"

"Logan's just afraid that something's coming."

"Owen! Something is coming!"

"No Ant!" Owen said, becoming annoyed. "We think something's coming. Thinking and knowing are two vastly different things."

"There's a way we can know." Shogun muttered, eyes wide.

"How?"

"The professor didn't just have an office. I think that if Ant and I teamed up. We could, we might be able to. . " He took a deep breath. "We could find this guy."

"How?" Owen repeated.

"Cerebro."


	9. Beta

So I have a base of about, oh, twenty readers. Two of whom review, about three of whom don't and have me on alert. . . . Does a few short sentences really kill you that much? Have fun with this chapter anyway, you non-reviewers.

* * *

Switch was having fun. It had been a week since Belial had sent her out and she thought she had done pretty well. She sent about five or six really powerful mutants to Belial's camp, and now it was time for her to relax.

Traveling quickly across the canopy Switch's fingers had elongated and so had her feet and toes. Her arms and legs were fairly wrapped in cables that provided support and added strength to her jumps and leaps. She was in the forest that surrounded Xaviers school and was just scouting out the territory, just in case.

Just in case of what? With Belial's power they really didn't need a just in case. Switch rolled her eyes and leaped again.

This time, however, she went barreling into someone else.

She felt a little pressure on her back as the other person used Switch's momentum to divert the integrators body away from theirs. Switch landed amid a pile of rocks and moss, her skin shifting as she created metal scales over her body to diffuse the impact.

Switch came out of the ground looking like a wild woman, leaved in her hair and grass stains all over what was left of her shorts and shirt.

"Hey!" Switch yelled, her bright brown eyes glaring around the trees. "Who the hell just did that?"

"Dude. I am so sorry!" A girl came out from behind a tree, dusting herself off. "I didn't see you at all!"

Switch looked over this new girl. She had blue hair, matching eyes and a lean body. Putting her hands on her hips, Switch watched as the girl reached around her head and checked the camera that hung around her neck.

"No harm done, right?" The girl asked, stepping forward towards Switch. "You're fine, right?"

"I'm good." Switch said, making no attempt to brush off the dust leaves and twigs that littered her body. "Do you go to the school?"

The blue haired girl nodded. "Yeah! Are you interested in going? My name's Jamie-"

"Switch," The integrator said. Jamie nodded and continued.

"I know a lot of runaway's show up there. My roommate just got there a few days ago, so I'm sure Ms. Ororo can make another exception-"

"You're a mutant?"

"Well yeah. I kinda just ran into you in midair, about fifty feet off the ground, and I'm perfectly fine." The girl laughed. "I hope I'm a mutant."

"Oh." Switch thought for a second. "Then you wouldn't be interested in a sort of takeover then?"

"What?"

"No? I guess not." Switch said and jumped at Jamie, the cables boiling up from underneath her skin, metal transforming her hands and fingers into razor sharp blades. Jamie's eyes barely had time to widen before she leapt up into the air, spinning away from Switch.

Jamie landed on a branch, took a quick picture, then leapt off again, throwing her camera so the strap hooked neatly on a nearby tree. Less than a second later, Switch had cut through the branch Jamie had been on and threw herself off the trunk to a tree opposite Jamie.

The blue haired girl gasped as Switch directed herself from the other tree towards hers. Jamie tried to jump away, but Switch cast her arms ahead of her, the thick wires that surrounded her arms uncoiling and shooting forward, wrapping tightly around Jamie's legs.

Jamie grunted as she was draped over a branch, the cables swinging her from her ankles, the metal digging cruelly into her skin. Switch landed on the branch as Jamie swung her body hard, shooting up from her hanging position to deliver a hard punch to Switch's face.

"Holy crap!" Switch yelped, jumping back to another branch. Jamie struggled with the wires as she fell back, but they began to coil around her legs, working their way up her hips and torso. They caught hold of her arms and pinned them to her sides. Once she was trussed up tighter than a mummy, Switch walked back over to Jamie, her toes a metallic sheen as she dug into the wood.

"Damn blue, you made me bleed."

"I'll do more than that once I get out of here." Jamie growled, still struggling with the cables that wrapped around her body. They twisted around her torso, five wires attached to five fingers on Switch's left hand.

"You're not getting out."

"Watch me!"

Switch rolled her eyes. "Whatever girl." She flicked her hand and the cocooned Jamie landed on Switch's back. "Oof." Switch muttered, jumping down from the tree, her feet and legs covered in metal as she landed. "Have not done this in a while."

The cables around Jamie shifted and a few of the strands detached from her body and began to integrate with Switch. Inside Switch's body the metal began to coat and integrates with her muscles, boosting their power and decreasing their need for oxygen. Switch shook her head.

"Let's see what Bee has to make of you, blue."

Jamie tried to respond, but a small metal gag had snaked its way over her mouth, making her unable to speak. Her eyes blazed anger and she began to struggle, but the wire tightened cruelly on her skin and she stopped moving.

"Stop that!" Switch growled as she began to jump across the woods. Her clawed feet found easy purchase in the decaying wood and loam that coated the forest floor. It only took Switch five minutes or so to get to Belial's camp. It was a pretty ramshackle compared to the normal meticulous care the speaker would normally take in his work.

Belial himself was camped out in a nice RV, complete with bed, speaker system, mini kitchen and working full bathroom. Everyone else was outside in tents. All in all, there were about fifteen mutants there, including Belial, Medusa, Typhoon and Switch.

Switch ran through the camp, attracting a few stares as she made her way to the RV. She head-butted the door a few times until it opened to reveal a half-dressed Belial. He looked slightly harried, with wet, unkempt hair and half his belt out of his jeans.

"Switch, I told you not to bring anyone who didn't want-"

"She's from the school!" The girl said, interrupting the man.

"Oh?"

"Well yeah, I wouldn't lie to you." Switch said. Clearly rhetorical questions were over her head. Belial rolled his eyes and stepped out of the camper, fixing his belt.

"Let her go then."

"You sure?"

Belial glanced at Switch.

"Whatever." The girl said, shrugging.

The cables slowly slid off Jamie, removing themselves from her skin before they moved, reducing the chaffing that had already occurred from the wild ride through the woods. Jamie shook her head as she slid to the ground. She got back up on shaky feet and looked around at the various mutants scattered around the area. She decided not to try to run.

"Good choice." Hissed a voice from behind Jamie. Acrobat swung around and came face to face with Medusa, who's slightly flattened nose, slitted eyes and cruel smile revealed a few more teeth than normal. Teeth that were far to sharp to be healthy.

Jamie's eyes widened.

The square face, the almond eyes, even the way this woman stood. It was just like-

"Over here." Belial said, turning Jamie's attention back to him. "Yeah. You won't have to worry about her if you just do what I say."

"She has sharper teeth than you." Jamie sputtered.

"But guess who has more poison." Belial purred, his smile spreading arrogantly over his face. When Jamie didn't say anything Belial shrugged.

"Down to business then? Alright." Belial stood easily, his hands in his jeans pockets. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way-"

"That cliché?" Jamie scoffed, regaining a little bit more of her confidence against this seemingly normal man. "Dude, you are so a last generation comic book villain."

Belial raised an eyebrow.

"But I am so much better than them."

"How? You have maybe twenty guys up here against a hundred plus hormonal teenage mutants and a half dozen trained X-men. What do you possibly think you'll be able to do? To a school?"

Belial smiled. "Medusa? The files, please."

The snake woman disappeared into the RV to reappear with an armful of manila folders. Belial quickly found the file he was looking for. He nodded at Medusa, who placed the rest of the folders on the ground.

"Out of the one hundred and twenty three students at Xaviers there are only two potential level five mutants. Note that word, potential. Moving on, there are. . .five potential Alpha's - level four mutations - including those listed above, twelve level three's, also including. . .hm, and then about thirty level two's, again, counting inclusively. Not to mention that only one X-man is currently at Omega level, and I have taken precautions against that particular mutant."

Belial snapped the file shut and bent down, flipping through the files. "Those two potential Omega's are. . ." He opened a thin folder. "An eleven year old psychic and an girl who can imitate random acts."

Belial shut the folder and threw it on the ground at his side.

"You are?"

"Jamie!" Switch piped up from behind Belial. The man rolled his eyes as the blue-haired girl glared at Switch.

"Alright. Jamie. That doesn't do me much." Belial smiled and looked up from where he was looking through his files. "Tell me your name." He said, his voice smooth.

"Emmaline James Rider." Instantly Jamie's eyes widened and she clamped her hands over her mouth. What had she done? Why? It was like her brain responded without even thinking! That was what this man could do. But it wasn't psychic – the teachers had taught students how to identify a psychic intrusion. So how could he just control her?

"Found it." Belial simpered, pulling out another file.

"Rider, Emmaline James. Alias, oh, an alias, that means something, Acrobat. Hm. It seems you're a Beta. Not bad girl. Enhanced muscles, endurance, resistance to physical attacks. Trained up, I'm assuming?"

Jamie didn't say anything, not trusting her traitor mouth.

"Hardball? Alright." Belial sighed. Jamie's eyes widened as she bit her lip hard, her hands still covering her mouth.

"Are you trained?" His voice was velvet.

"Yes."

"By whom."

"Professor Susanna, and sometimes Logan. The X-men have taken me and a few others to the training room."

Belial raised an eyebrow. "Susanna." He said, looking up at Medusa. He stood up straight. "Well then. Girl, when did Susanna come to the school?"

"About six months ago."

Medusa nodded at Belial. "I can handle her any day of the week." Belial pulled his arms up above his head, stretching. "I hope so. Get Typhoon and have him find out when the X-men are returning from Africa, wait-" Belial turned to Jamie and smiled.

"Tomorrow!" Jamie blurted, before Belial could turn his voice to liquid sound and completely control her again. "They'll all be back by tomorrow morning, I swear!"

Belial smiled. "See? That's the easy way girl." He reached over and ruffled Jamie's hair, messing it up as the girl flinched away from him. "Alright. Get the group ready Medusa. Switch."

The integrator looked up, eyes bright.

"Keep Acrobat occupied. Nicely."

Jamie looked at the wicked smile on Switch's face and instantly regretted telling them that the X-men would be back Sunday morning.

* * *

Another way to classify mutants, besides levels five through one is as such:

Omega - Level five

Alpha - Level four

Beta - Level three

Epsilon-Delta - Level two

And obviously, level one's are just so weak they don't get a cool Greek letter. But they shall now be known as Theta. Because the Phonecian letter that is parallel to Theta is Theth, and that looks like the X-men symbol. Which is ironic, because most of the time level one's don't become X-men.

And obviously, I am the only one amused. . .


	10. Really deep

Thanks again to my. . .reviewer. Much love Certh. Read and enjoy, this one took a while.

* * *

It was Saturday afternoon when Ant was again ripped from her bed to go on another wild misadventure with Shogun and Owen. Sleeping in was obviously not an option. This time however, she did manage to rip her hand out of Owen's, put some decent clothes on and find a hair tie before she was led through the halls of Xaviers. 

This was the first weekend of the month, and most of the teachers had volunteered to chaperone the students while they went to the nearby town, making the school nearly deserted except by those mutants who could not blend in easily. According to Owen, even the more vague students managed to convince Ororo by making up some disease or just covering up with more layers than needed.

Ant was grateful for the reprise, the absence of almost a hundred consciousness' easing the pain in her chest exponentially. She left her headphones hanging around her neck, just in case.

Owen and Shogun wanted to relax before embarking on their trip to the basement, (most students knew that Xavier's was the base of operations for the X-men, although most didn't know the full extent of the underground headquarters,) so they stopped by the lounge to play a game of pool.

Ant rolled her eyes and tagged along, thankful that she only had to put up with Shogun, Owen and Argus, who happened to be watching TV loudly in the lounge.

She sat on a nearby stool and listened to the two boys talk.

"So we're going to be able to get in there?"

"Sure." Shogun shrugged. "You'll find a way."

"Arrogant jerk." Owen muttered, but Ant noticed that he was trying very hard to hide a smile.

"And once we've gained access into Cerebro, I will be able to combine my psychic abilities with Ant's empathetic capability-" Ant hated the way his voice turned almost mechanical as he analyzed the situation "and we should be able to locate this mutant. Maybe then we'll have something definitive to present to Ororo and the other faculty." Shogun said, standing on his tip toes in order to hit the cue ball.

"What's Cerebro?" Ant asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

Owen looked at Shogun. "Guess we should've explained it to her, huh?"

Shogun nodded and Owen sighed as he turned to Ant, leaning on his pool stick. "Alright. Cerebro was made by the founder of Xavier's, Xavier, obviously. Anyway, this guy was an amazing psychic. Not to mention a martyr to all the students here. He also trained up the first X-men team. Anyway, he built this giant dome underneath the school."

"Just like that?" Ant interrupted, confused. "Just built it?"

"He had help you know. Not to mention that the entire underground levels are the X-men HQ." Ant's eyes widened as Owen turned back to his pool game. "But listen, Cerebro amplified his psychic powers by enormous amounts. He was able to locate mutants to bring them here by using Cerebro. So, we think that if we can get into Cerebro, we can wing it from there."

"That's it." Ant said as Owen sunk a red pool ball. "You're expecting an eleven year old kid and me to just be able to walk into this giant ball of whatever and just be able to _wing it_?"

Shogun and Owen paused.

"Yeah."

"That's the general idea." Shogun said, shrugging slightly.

"That's the general idea?" Ant repeated Shogun, eyes wide. "No way are you two serious. This Xavier guy must've had years of experience and huge amounts of psychic power to be able to do this and you're expect us to just waltz in and get it the instant we touch. . .whatever it is we touch." Ant sputtered, an upset flush gracing her cheeks. "Do you even know how this thing is supposed to work?"

The two boys looked at each other. Owen shook his head. "No idea."

"So all you know is that it's a giant planetarium that will, hypothetically, find mutants?"

"Yep." Shogun said, aiming at the cue ball.

Ant blinked.

"I'm going back to sleep."

Owen and Shogun put down their pool sticks as Ant slid off the stool. She began to make for the door before Owen ran in front of her, his body far too close to hers for comfort.

"You can't." There was no joking tone in his voice.

"We need you." Shogun said, standing next to Owen.

"Why can't you just find the right mutant?" Ant asked Owen, exasperated.

"I don't know him." Owen explained. "If I knew what he looked like, at the very least, I would be able to find him, easy. But you know what he feels like."

"That gives us an amazing advantage to finding him, rather than manually filtering through every mutant on the face of the earth." Shogun said, dark eyes wide "We need you to help us find him." He said resolutely, folding his arms in front of him.

Ant looked from Owen to the little boy, and back again.

"But you have no idea what you're doing!" She hissed, her eyes wide with a panic that came from realizing she was almost convinced. "What if something goes wrong? What if-"

"What if this mutant starts to control us?" Owen asked, grabbing onto Ant's shoulders, her feelings of alarm flooding through him. "What if he comes here and tries to attack us? What if we can stop him?"

"We don't even know if he's doing anything!" she cried helplessly, looking at Owen desperately.

"Actually." Argus had snuck up behind Owen as Ant had been attempting to leave. "I've been seeing . . . some awful weird. . . things. . . gatherings, you know. . . just saying. . . it doesn't look. . . good."

Ant's eyes widened. Another person convinced of the school's imminent doom? Just what she needed, she sighed and rubbed the back of her neck as Shogun and Owen began to interview Argus.

"I don't. . . normally tell people this." The many eyed boy began. "But I don't just. . . see what's. . .in front of me."

"So. ." Owen left off, urging Argus on.

"All I've . . . seen is that. . .someone has. . .been calling mutants. From everywhere. . . he's very. . . persuasive."

"See Ant!" Owen said, happy at this bad news. "Calling mutants! We're definitely in deep shit!"

Ant was overwhelmed. She could only nod as Owen smiled.

"Good. You know." He looked at Argus and Shogun. "Let's go right now."

Five minutes later found Ant clutching onto Owens hand hard, her eyes wide as she descended to the basement levels in a hidden elevator she had not known existed until less than a minute ago.

This is what you get, Ant thought, for going to a school for mutants. She started as the elevator slid to a stop and the metallic doors swooshed back, opening into a sterile white hallway. Owen darted ahead, and then darted back.

"Coast clear," he said quietly, excitement obvious in his voice, "God I've always wanted to say that." He grabbed Ant's hand and pulled her across the hall then into another corridor. Ant's eyes widened. How large was this place? There were about three more turns that were taken in utter silence then Owen stopped.

"What is it?" Shogun asked, whispering.

"Peter." Owen muttered, Argus quickly grabbed Owen's hand and Shoguns arm, took them around another corner and opened a door, shoving everyone in the room. He followed, the door giving a reassuring click as it locked.

"I saw it was. . . a computer room. . " Argus whispered, the other mutants spreading out and hiding. "I'll keep a . . . lookout."

He didn't move for a second or two, then one by one, each of his many green eyes closed, the last one on the back of his hand fluttering softly. His mouth opened.

"He's coming down our hallway." Argus whispered, not pausing like he normally would. "He can't hear us, but he's coming down here, part of his route-" Footsteps began to echo down the hallway. "He'll just pass on by us." Just as Argus muttered those last few words, Peter, in a regular jeans and t shirt, walked right by the cluttered computer room. "Give it a few minutes." Argus mumbled. "Then he'll turn and be in another section entirely."

Sure enough, less than two minutes later, Peter's footsteps had completely disappeared and Ant let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. Owen appeared at the doorway and opened it.

"We need to hurry."

Argus opened his eyes and stumbled out the door as Shogun lightly ran around the corner. Ant was helped up by Owen, who held her hand as they trod lightly through the white hallways. Shogun reappeared from around a wall.

"Found it!"

Owen rolled his eyes. "No shit Sherlock." He muttered. "I told you where to go."

They all rounded a corner and came face to face with the burnished steel door. Circular, with a giant 'X' through the center. Shogun tilted his head to the side and walked up to it. He poked the circle at the center of the door. It slid open.

"Engaging retinal scan." A female voice said from the door. Ant's eyes widened and she took a step back. A blue light came out of the circle and scanned across Shogun's face, first horizontally and then vertically.

"Retina scan rejected. Unknown person. Please step away from the door." Shogun quickly took a few steps away from the door. He turned to Owen.

"You got a way to find the professor's old eyeball?"

Owen didn't answer, but darted around the door, materializing first on the right side, then on the left. He kept this up, running his hands over the surface.

"Gotta be another way in. . ." He muttered. "There has to be a way to override the system." He said, "It's only a machine. They can be reprogrammed. . . Edited."

Owen didn't notice, but Argus had stepped forward. He knelt down to the level of the circle and Owen nearly ran into him, backing up just in time. The door whirred to life and the three other mutants could tell Argus was taking a deep breath. The many-eyed boy reached up and took off his glasses just as the female voice announced its retinal scan.

Ant gasped. It didn't seem like Argus had eyelids. His eyes were just placed into his skull, big, round, bulging things that seemed far too large for his head. Suddenly, they shifted - the green color fading and replaced by a gray, then brown, then an almost yellow color. The scan had just started when the color suddenly shifted again to a blue.

"Retina scan accepted." The voice said pleasantly. "Welcome back, Professor."

Argus stood up and put his dark glasses back on.

"I can tell. . . .what people. . .want to see. If I can . . . tell what. . .a machine is looking for. . . it's not too hard . . .to fool. . . a scanner." He said, shrugging.

"Argus, you are amazing." Owen said, slightly awestruck as he watched the X door open. Owen then turned to Shogun and Ant. "Go get him girl." He said, pushing the empath forward. Ant's eyes widened as she quickly stepped through the door, clutching onto Shoguns shoulder as the inside dome of Cerebro.

It seemed like they were stepping into thin air, then the lights flickered on and the walkway lit up. Ant gasped, looking around at the panels that formed the machine. She looked ahead and saw an oversized helmet-looking thing. Shogun skipped ahead and ran over to the consol, brushing the dust away. He smiled, "This is so cool!" he whispered as he put the helmet on his head. When the metal touched his temples, the door behind them began to close. Ant looked back, nearly panicking.

She saw Argus smiling, arms folded, and Owen, who blew her a kiss as the door slid shut.

"Ant! Hold onto me!" Shogun said, excitement cracking his voice. The helmet nearly fell off his head as he turned towards the girl. Ant jumped and ran over to him, placing her hands on his slight shoulders.

"Brace yourself."

The room suddenly faded, the metal disks on Shogun's temples glowing a light blue. The plates seemed to fall away from their view, and suddenly pinpricks of light appeared everywhere.

"What we're seeing. . ." Shogun muttered as he held his hands out in front of him, as if trying to direct the blinking lights. "Are consciousness'."

"Try to find mutants." Ant said, the ringing in her ears starting. Shogun nodded and suddenly all around them the lights burst into flame, bright red standing out against the pale white lights.

"This is going to hurt."

Suddenly Ant screamed as the feelings of thousands and thousands of mutants came crashing on her. She recoiled, and backed away from Shogun, crying and scratching at her skin, pulling her hair, her breath coming in sobs as she tried to recover from the onslaught of feelings.

"Pull yourself together!" Shogun barked, annoyed and distracted. "Let the feelings pass through you. Instead of letting them affect you, affect them! You are emotion! You can give them emotion!" He yelled, fighting the effect of the minds himself.

Ant nodded, sobbing. She shook her head and brushed the tears from her eyes, standing up and taking a few deep breaths. She placed her fingertips lightly on his shoulders again, letting the emotions wash over her.

Tears ran again down her face as she struggled against her own reactions. She tried to pass her own feelings through the minds, but it was hard, her only feeling being panic.

"I'll try to get only the high level mutants." Shogun said through clenched teeth. "Alpha and up. . ."

The pain eased considerably, but there was still an enormous rush of emotion coming into Ant. She concentrated on breathing, letting the simple task of passing air in and out of her lungs absorb all of her focus. Calming down, she was able to distance herself from the emotions of others, as if viewing them like a book.

"Try to get into their mind." Ant asked. "Not what they're feeling, but who they _are_."

"I'm trying." Shogun grimaced, "It's harder than it sounds. . . "

Now instead of emotions, what came through was a wave of sentient feelings. They shifted and moved, changed and vibrated. All Ant had to do was close her eyes and she could feel them passing by as Shogun moved through the different mutants. Suddenly she felt it again –

"Stop!" Ant cried.

"Did you find him?" Shogun asked, his voice making it seem like he was close to tears himself.

"It's getting stronger." Ant said, "Go slow."

Shogun's mind slowly sorted through the consciousnesses of the mutants. The feeling of sunlight faltered then flared up again, exceptionally strong. Ant gasped and opened her eyes. In front of her, displayed on the screen, was an attractive, middle-aged man that was fairly oozing warmth from his every pore.

"That's him!" Ant whispered, awestruck.

"Thank god." Shogun muttered, as he breathed out and suddenly all the other mutant lights retreated, and the image of this one shrunk too, but it seemed like Shogun and Ant were following him as he descended. He landed on a man, just a speck, glowing slightly brighter than the others. Shogun's eyes widened as he looked at the United States.

"Nevermind." The boy said, black-brown eyes fearful. "He's right on top of us."

"What?!"

"This guy! He's right-"

_My name's Belial, by the way._

The image of the man appeared again, and this time it turned to face them, its eyes open and looking at them.

"What. . ." Ant whispered, confused beyond anything she had ever experienced.

_Belial. _– His lips didn't move – _Did I stutter?_

"What do you want?" Shogun asked, sweat breaking out along his brow.

_The question is, what don't I want?_ Belial said, thought, whatever it was, his head tilting to one side. _Either way, I'm not going to tell a couple of X-men. I'll tell you one thing though. I want you to come get this girl – she calls herself Jamie. Blue hair, alias Acrobat, know her?_

"What have you done to her?!" Ant cried, clutching onto Shoguns shoulders.

_Nothing_- Belial smiled – _yet._

Then as suddenly as the voice had come, it disappeared, along with the image of Belial and the map, the shutters of Cerebro coming back into view. As the last of the panels clicked back into place, the door to Cerebro opened, and Ant turned around, shakily, hoping to see Owen or Argus waiting with concerned faces.

Instead she saw the very angry face of Logan and Susanna, along with Peter, standing in the background, arguing with Owen.

Logan marched up to Ant and gripped her wrist hard, making her wince as she looked into his unshaven face. Realizing he was hurting her, Logan sighed and loosed his hold.

"Alright." Susanna barked at Shogun. "What's all this about some new villain?" Her tone was sarcastic, she obviously hadn't believed one word that Owen had been saying. It was apparent that he was currently in in a yelling match with Colossus over the existence of the controller.

"No time," Shogun muttered, stepping shakily towards the exit of Cerebro.

"And why not?" Susanna growled, grabbing his wrist much in the same way that Logan had Ant trapped. Shogun looked up at the professor, any trace of his age gone from his face.

"Because he's going to kill Jamie."

Instantly everyone stopped. Logan looked over at Shogun, Ant's eyes filled with tears, and Owen finished the sentence he had been yelling in very hushed tones.

"Really deep shit. . . "


	11. Outfits

I'm depressed, really. I've looked through the other X-fiction and it's disappointing. I like to think my plot's better, at least marginally, than some of the other fictions. And my characters are better.

At least, I think so. . . At least Switch is. Switch is cool. My favorite scenes to write are with Switch and Belial. . .

Maybe it's the introduction? I think I'll change it, just to see if I get some more reviews. . . . –cough- Please guys? Really, it makes me feel bad, like what I write isn't good enough. . .or something. . . .

Alright. . . .Emo phase over.

* * *

"We need to save her!" Owen yelled, slamming a fist down on Ororo's desk. The teachers had all returned from the out-of-school excursion and the three hour wait had left Owen angry, Ant tired, Argus annoyed and Shogun on the verge of breaking into a few people's minds to get his way.

"We have no proof." Storm said calmly. "What you're suggesting is ludicrous."

"We were in there." Shogun sighed, exasperated that they didn't understand what was happening. "Belial spoke to us."

In the office were Ororo, Susanna and Logan, standing off to the left, Peter, Hank and Warren. They had already explained what had happened in Cerebro, along with the psychic connections that Shogun had gathered information from. They hadn't gotten very far in convincing the teachers they weren't just out for attention.

"I'm telling you. Jamie's in trouble." Owen growled, glaring at Ororo. "And we need. To. Save. Her."

Ororo sighed. "When the rest of the X-men get back then-"

"Everyone stand in a circle." Shogun said suddenly. Everyone looked at him. "Now." It was odd to see the six adults take orders from this small boy, but they did. "Hold hands." He ordered. Owen and Argus pushed their way in, hoping to see what actually happened in Cerebro. Ant, however, was fighting back sleep in her chair, and stayed where she was, determined to just block everything out.

Shogun took a deep breath.

"Brace yourselves," He muttered.

Ant couldn't tell what was happening, herself on the verge of falling asleep. The people inside the circle, however, got a full view of Cerebro, as if they were Shogun. They felt Ant's hands on their shoulders, and a calming presence enveloped them.

"Ant."

"Hmm?"

"Ant, I need your help." Shogun said, eyes closed.

"Why? You got memories. Just play them like a tape, or something."

"I need you to make them feel."

"Do I gotta?" Ant complained, shifting out of her seat anyways.

"Ant."

"Comin', ya big pushover" She muttered, forcing herself in between Shogun and Hank McCoy.

Instantly the vision changed, and as the lights popped up they got a full blast of the emotions that Ant had felt during Cerebro. Tears formed at the edge of a few eyes, Logan started to grind his teeth, and Susanna's tail curled right up. Shogun went through the memories quickly, the feelings that came from Ant passing through the circle swiftly. Then they got to the point where he had passed through each consciousness' individually.

"Wow." Owen muttered.

"This is really. . " Ororo said, just as they felt the essence of a priest. Argus said a little 'Oh' right before Shogun stopped at Belial, noticing where he was located.

"And you feel this every day? With everyone?" Hank asked, not turning towards Ant. The girl didn't have time to respond because Shogun had stopped. It was Belial, tousled hair, button up shirt, slacks. The young man turned.

_My name's Belial, by the way._

A collective intake of breath from most of the circle as Shogun proceeded through the whole interview with Belial, ending in the part where he had disappeared, an evil smile on his face. The odd thing was, the entire time, Ant had only felt a pleasant heat and the slight taste of honey in her mouth.

"There." Shogun muttered, letting go of everyone's hand. Logan went over to the open window and spat, trying to rid himself of the taste.

"Been a long time since we had a rescue mission, Ororo." Logan muttered, cracking his knuckles. "I can already smell the boy." He growled, one hand on the windowpane.

"Let's wait until the rest of the X-men are here." Ororo said, going back behind her desk. She quickly flipped open a small box that was supposed to contain sticky notes and pressed a button. The top of the desk flicked up, exposing a thin laptop. Ororo made some swift adjustments then pressed a button on the keyboard. The entire room stood still.

"Iceman here." Came a voice from the speakers.

"This is Storm." Ororo replied. "We have a kidnapping and a possible threat to the school."

"Who's the hostage?" came another voice from the speakers, this man had a distinct southern drawl, extending his vowels.

"Acrobat," Storm replied, "Blue hair, remember? She went on that mission to Borneo with you."

"Roger, roger." spoke a female voice. "What's the threat?"

"He calls himself Belial," Shogun cut in, skipping behind Ororo's desk and talking into the speakers. "We don't know how, but he can control people effortlessly. He has massive numbers at his disposal-", again it was unnerving how grown-up this small boy sounded, "-and he's gathered near the school, less than three miles away."

"We're on our way." Iceman said. "Who do we have?"

There was a pause as Ororo looked around the room.

"Storm, Angel, Wolverine, Sting, Collosus and Beast." Ororo said. There was a small cry of outrage from both Shogun and Owen, Ant was content not to be part of the action, and Argus knew that he wouldn't be much help.

"I can help!" Owen cried.

"You know we're ready!" Shogun argued. Logan narrowed his eyes.

"Let 'em in." he growled. "Couldn't hurt to teach them a lesson or two." Ororo looked up at Logan, who shrugged.

"Along with Shogun and Mercury." Ororo said, severely regretting her decision.

"Gotcha Ma'am" The southern voice again.

"Sounds good Storm," Iceman said. "We'll be there in two hours. Domino, activate stealth mode. Cannonball, fire up the engines. We're going supersonic. X-men, over and out."

They disappeared with a buzz of static. Ororo closed the lid of the computer, looking around at the mutants around her.

"Let's agree to keep this under cover until we get the situation under control." She said, Owen nodding furiously, willing to do anything to maintain his position. "Let's suit up."

Owen grinned at Ant as they walked down to the lower levels of the school. They were going into the wardrobe room, where they would officially don the uniform. In the circular room Ant could hear Susanna arguing with Ororo about her suit – apparently the top was too confining.

Hank complained that his suit was too small – still and Ororo told him to suck it in. Owen laughed like a little kid and chose out his own suit. Ant sat with Argus and watched as the X-men donned the leather uniforms.

Wolverine, Colossus, Angel, Storm, and Beast all looked well fitted, while Owen dug around to find a few more pieces that would fit him and Shogun.

In the end, Owen choose a sleeveless top and long pants that had a yellow bar along his hips and behind his knees, for more flexibility while running, along with bracers that went down his forearm and fingerless gloves. Shogun was a little tougher, being so small, and he wore a cut-off of another suit, shorts and sleeves that went down to just below his elbow. He also wore gloves; these however were lacking material over the palms, giving him a conduit for his powers.

Susanna was a different story. She had only been there six months, so Ororo hadn't the chance to acquire a suit for her. Susanna decided that it wasn't a problem, took a pair of old leather pants, ripped holes all down the front and back and an opening for her tail.

"There." She said, coming out adjusting a loose belt around her hips. "Problem solved."

Logan raised an eyebrow but said nothing, causing Owen and Shogun to go into a near-hysterical fit of giggles. Ant repressed a yawn.

"Alright everyone," Ororo said, addressing the group and causing Owen to stop fiddling with his gloves. "The senior X-men and I are going on a recon mission." She said, turning to Owen and Shogun. "You four will stay here and brief the rest of the team when they come in."

Owen nodded, his eyes wide. Ororo narrowed her eyes. "No funny business, I'm still in charge here." Then they were gone, Warren's wings barely fitting into the tight elevator as they ascended to the upper levels of the school.

"We are so cool!" Owen gushed as Shogun tightened a belt around his loose pants.

"Speak for yourself," said Ant as Argus smiled.

"Come on Ant!" Owen said, pulling her up and taking her over to the closet. "Let's find something for you!"

"Owen! I don't want-"

"Here." Owen said shoving a scanty top at her.

"Absolutely not." Ant exclaimed, if she was going to be dressed up like some kind of action figure she sure as hell wasn't going to end up looking like a whore. Owen rolled his eyes and dug into the multi-level wardrobe again.

"How about this?" He asked, giving her a top. It had a steep neckline, all things considered, but it was pretty decent. Owen, not sensing any real protests then handed her a pair of tight shorts and boots.

"Go!" Owen laughed, pushing her into the dressing room. Ant was glad that she was underground – she really didn't feel like music anymore.

She came out a few minutes later, squeaking that she needed a belt. Owen quickly handed her one and Ant edged out of the dressing room. Owen whistled and Shogun smiled, causing Ant to blush.

"Not bad. . .for a kid." Argus said, laughing at Ant's expression. She was wearing nearly skin-tight shorts that only came to her midthigh. Her shirt covered almost her whole upper body, with slits around her elbows and midriff. All things considered, it was very flattering on Ant, granting that she had little or no cleavage to speak of and her curves were only visible because of her skinniness.

They suddenly fell silent as an explosion of noise resounded throughout the building. A whining squeak issued above their heads and everyone looked upwards, save Argus, who didn't have to move to glance at the ceiling.

"That'll be them." Owen said, Jamie's plight forgotten as he dwelled on being part of the fabled group.

A few minutes later, Ant pulling down her shorts to cover more of her leg, a pair of doors _swooshed_ openrevealing the three X-men. There was Iceman, looking relatively normal, a big, burly blonde that looked like he could take on all four of the kids with one hand tied behind his back and a young woman who couldn't have been older than twenty three. The woman was by far the strangest looking, with chalk-white skin and a black, almost bruise-like oval covering her left eye.

The blonde one looked over the three outfitted mutantss with a slight look of disdain.

"We gotta take these kids-" (He pronounced 'kids', 'kay-ids') "-with us Ice?"

Iceman looked over at the larger man. It was the woman who spoke up from behind the sizeable mutant. "No Cannonball. There here for the damn scenery." She said, rolling her bright blue eyes. Cannonball turned and glared at her.

"Shaddup."

"Vocabulary is as impressive as ever." She muttered under her breath, passing by a dumbstruck Owen.

"I think I'm in love." The boy muttered to Ant, who had reached out to hold his hand at the arrival of the X-men. He turned and watched the leather-clad woman disappear behind a door.

Iceman looked over the three outfitted mutants. Argus stood up.

"I'm hungry." He said, "I'll. . .see you. . .guys around, right?"

Ant nodded and Owen and Shogun waved as Argus turned and began walking towards the elevator. Ant looked apprehensively up at Iceman.

"So." Cannonball folded his arms behind the team leader. "You're. . .going to help us?" He asked lamely, at a loss for how to deal with the kids.

"I'm Mercury." Owen said, sticking out his hand for Iceman, who took it. "That's Shogun, and this is Antennae, Ant for short."

Iceman nodded at each of them, shaking Owen's hand firmly. He seemed a bit more at ease, glad he could treat these mutants like adults, at least a little.

"Alright. Now, tell me about yourself."

Ant blanched, but again, Owen came to her rescue, speaking for the group of three.

"I have enhanced speed, the ability to find things and a wicked tendency to unearth trouble. Shogun's a psychic, predicted Alpha/Omega. And Ant-" he paused, causing Ant to clutch his hand tighter and look down. "An empath that can also project her feelings."

Iceman raised an eyebrow but said nothing. "Do you know what's going on?" he asked, Cannonball grunting in the background as Domino came back into the small forum.

"Xavier had a son." Shogun cut in, "He has the power to dominate people. We don't know how, but he does. Irrevocably, instantly, completely. And he's camped out three miles from our present location." Domino smirked, amused at Shoguns' vocabulary.

"The boy's a freaking dictionary." She said, laughing a little. Iceman looked at her.

"Aren't you losing sight of the situation?"

"Quite possibly." Domino said, smiling brightly. Behind her Cannonball growled. Domino turned to retort but was cut off by a female voice that issued from a small speaker on each of the outfitted mutants collars.

"We have engaged Belial! I repeat, we have engaged Belial in combat!-" It was broken off here by a few unhealthy sounding cracks. "That'll teach you!" Definitely Susanna talking through the speakers "Requesting- oh damn it _all_! – Get out here now!" Another crack and then static for a second before the speakers went mute.

"Can you find them?" Iceman asked Owen. He nodded eyes wide.

"Sweet." Domino giggled, taking out one of her guns. "I've been wanting to try this thing out."


End file.
